We Probably Should Have Locked the Door
by Chellerbelle
Summary: Sequel to "I Mock Your Shiny Toothpicks". First chapter recaps previous stories for those who couldn't be bothered re reading them. What happens when Gambit and Marrow are reunited? Can they stop the Purifiers? And will Gambit ever propose to Rogue?
1. Recap

In keeping with movieverse canon, Gambit's eyes alter colour when he's using his powers. In keeping with comicverse canon, both iris and sclera change colour, not just iris. In hindsight I wish I hadn't gone there, but I did so I'm stuck with it for this series now, haha.

**P****reviously in **_**Don't Ruin The Upholstery...**_

In **But What a Way to Go**, Rogue had been attempting to reconcile with her family when the news came out that the Cure was wearing off. She decided to get out before they kicked her out and met Gambit at a local bar. He found out about her plans to return to Xaviers and - having no particular plans himself – decided to go with her. This was convenient for Rogue as she was a little short of resources.

They didn't get far when they were abducted by someone whom Gambit had recently stolen from, who wanted to get his property back. Being the awesome people that they are, Rogue and Gambit escaped captivity. They decided to lay low in a hotel room for a couple of nights, during which Gambit acquired a new motorcycle.

The second day back on the road, Gambit's enemy caught up with them on the highway. This was evidenced by the fact that they started shooting at them on said highway. The chase ended once and for all when Gambit's charged cards forced them off the road: permanently.

That evening, Rogue was attacked by the Professor, who was still alive as he transferred his mind to the body of his identical twin brother at Muir Island when Jean destroyed his original body. The Professor attempted to torment Rogue with her fears, but was foiled by her many psyches, who confused the issue. Gambit was also able to help by talking to her and Rogue succeeded in driving the Professor away.

Rogue and Gambit finally arrived at Xavier's the next day and when they got there, they discovered that everyone had been disabled by the Professor, who also attacked them as soon as he sensed their arrival. He was only able penetrate Gambit's mind briefly, but he did get into Rogue's again with little trouble. Rogue was fortunately able to expel him long enough to absorb Kurt and teleport into Cerebro, where she also absorbed the Professor. It was then that she realised that it was in fact the Professor's dark side who was responsible for everyone's state. Together they drove his dark side back into his cage.

Rogue, Gambit and the Professor then set about the task of restoring their friends back to new, after suffering at the Professor's dark side for two days. Rogue introduced Gambit to everyone and he and Storm caught up. Gambit decided to stay for awhile.

Logan returned to Xaviers in **This is a Battle not a Tango**, and was reunited with Rogue after they returned from battling the Brotherhood. He also caught up with Gambit, whom he only vaguely remembered. He was initially concerned about Rogue and Gambit's relationship, which involved "dates as friends" and a good deal of flirting, but he was confident in Rogue's ability to look after herself.

Rogue, Gambit, Bobby, Logan and Storm got involved in another fight with the Brotherhood, during which Rogue absorbed Pyro and picked up a sole clue: "Genosha". There were rumours that mutants there were being used as slaves. The flirting between Rogue and Gambit got heavier as Rogue became more daring.

The X-men had another confrontation with the Brotherhood during a Christmas parade. They tried to piece together what the Brotherhood were up to, but with no results until yet another attack shortly after Christmas. Unfortunately, this attack led to Rogue, Gambit, Bobby and Jubilee being abducted by Genoshan slavers.

Rogue, Gambit, Bobby and Jubilee woke up in flight to Genosha. They were able to free themselves from the shackles thanks to Gambit's lock picking skills, however, they also discovered their powers were shut off by the Genoshan Slave collars about their necks. Rogue took advantage of the situation to kiss Gambit and - having nothing else to do until the plane landed - decided to continue making out, much to Jubilee and Bobby's discomfort. Unfortunately, when the plane did land, their escape attempt was foiled by their captors and they found themselves being assessed and doing hard labour.

That night, Gambit assessed what he learned during the day about their situation, which included the presence of a mutant collaborator named Trans. In the morning he kissed Rogue just as their powers were switched back on. In addition to his memories and powers, Rogue also absorbed his diabolical not-so-evil scheme.

The man in charge of the mutants, Wilson, accepted Rogue's defection. He also arranged for a certain mutant, Ms Marvel, to be transported to his keeping so that Rogue could borrow her powers in order to speed up production. Satisfied with her day's work, Wilson allowed Rogue to take Gambit to her room that night, where she passed on the key to the collars, which she stole from Wilson when he exchanged her standard collar to her new collaborator collar. Rogue and Gambit both finally admitted that they loved each other.

The following morning Gambit organised to get the key passed around so that they could unlock as many collars as possible. Unfortunately, Wilson discovered his missing key before all the collars could be unlocked and those still with locked collars were being attacked by the pain setting while the X-men and the other freed slaves were fighting. The X-men succeed in taking out the guards and the officials, but not before Wilson destroyed the main controls for the collars.

Rogue headed to a nearby signal tower in order to take it out and cut the collar communications line. She was almost there when she was intercepted by Trans. Trans activated the pain setting on Rogue's collar, and only Ms Marvel's invulnerability - which was unaffected by the collar - kept her alive. She succeeded in taking out both the tower and Trans by triggering the tamper control on the collar, which set off an explosion.

The other slaves were finally freed from their collars, while Gambit and Bobby rescued Rogue from the rubble. She was naked and hairless on account of the explosion, but otherwise unharmed thanks to Ms Marval's invulnerability. Upon return to base, the three discovered that the rest of the X-men and the Brotherhood have arrived. Thanks to Ms Marvel's prior investigations, Rogue was able to provide Magneto with information about the collars. The Brotherhood stayed to help free the rest of Genosha, while the X-men returned home, promising to send volunteers to help them once they had taken care of Rogue, Gambit, Jubilee and Bobby. Ms Marvel was comatose and Rogue permanently retained her powers.

Bobby, Jubilee, Kitty, Pete and Logan returned from assisting the liberation of Genosha in **I Mock Your Shiny Toothpicks**. They learned about a string of mutant murders that had been happening while they were away.

Rogue and Gambit's make out session was interrupted by an intruder who turned out to be Pulse. Pulse was offered the opportunity to stay at the mansion (as long as he behaved himself). As he was instantly attracted to Rogue, he decided to stay. After he learned that Rogue couldn't control her powers, Pulse took up turning them off occasionally and touching her skin. Rogue misinterpreted this as being taunted until Gambit (much to his amusement) pointed out that Pulse was attracted to her. Suffice to say Gambit and Pulse did not get along.

Rogue, Gambit, Bobby, Kitty, Pete, Jubilee and Pulse decided to have a game of poker where they gambled with truths, dares and chores. The next day they cashed in their winnings, which included:  
- Rogue being forced to admit that Gambit charges up her clothes when they make out (Bobby)  
- Jubilee and Bobby kissing (Rogue)  
- Jubilee and Gambit kissing (Pulse)  
- Rogue and Pulse kissing (Pulse)  
- Pulse being forced to do something that really should never be done in public, but did make for an amusing list of descriptions for it (Gambit)  
- Pulse having to turn Rogue's powers off for ten minutes, most of which she spent kissing Gambit (Kitty)

Rogue told Pulse off for turning her powers off all the time. Gambit, on the other hand, was approached by a telekinetic by the name of Jessica, whom had met him at a casino and had taken a liking to him. Naturally he rejected her advances.

Gambit and Logan decided to check out a bar that was rumoured to be mutant-friendly. While they were there, they found out a new drug on the market called "Overdrive", which was designed to be used by those with healing factors, enhanced metabolisms and endurance or durability and invulnerability, etc. It was fatal to anyone with a less than adequate physiology.

During a game of Capture the Flag in the danger room, Pulse turned off Rogue's powers and then - after landing on top of her - kissed her. Rogue was understandably ticked off about this and handed his butt to him, figuratively speaking. After a girls night out, Rogue and Gambit had a good long chat, which culminated in Rogue revealing the one good thing about Pulse fiddling with her powers: being able to tell the difference between how they felt when they were turn off as compared to how they feel when they're turned on. Rogue even succeeded in touching Gambit for a few seconds before her powers kicked in.

The following day, Rogue and Gambit decided to celebrate. During the day, they narrowly avoid Jessica whom Gambit described as being a female version of Pulse. Gambit also bought Rogue a new dress to wear when she has her powers under control. When Rogue practised on Gambit later on, she absorbed a memory of Jessica using her telekinesis on Gambit to force her suit. They decided to get some of their own back at the casino. Rogue absorbed Jessica and then used her own telekinesis against her at the craps table. Rogue also learned that Jessica was a little obsessed with Gambit.

Rogue and Gambit went to Europe for two months, most of which was spent in France, although the last couple of weeks was spent in Monte Carlo. In between sight-seeing, Gambit did a job for the Guild, Rogue learned about Gambit's first meeting with Sabretooth and they made significant progress on Rogue's power control. They also met up with Henri, Mercy and their daughter Gigi (they were busy pulling a con) and discussed Gambit's exile, Marius' heart attacks, Bella Donna practically running the Assassins Guild, and the idea of Jean-Luc actually retiring. Henri was also rather impressed to learn that Gambit and Rogue had been together for months _and_ that Gambit had been celibate.

Back at Xaviers, the X-men managed to apprehend an Overdrive junkie by the name of Blockbuster. When Gambit and Rogue returned, Gambit recognised him as one of the Marauders involved with the Morlock Massacre and was understandably upset by his presence. After pumping him for information, the X-men sent Blockbuster to Genosha, where they had been dealing with their own Overdrive problem. Notably, Sabretooth had become an addict.

Their investigation led them to the von Struckers. Kitty and Pulse broke into their office the same night that the Professor, Storm, Gambit, Rogue, Jubilee and Bobby attended a charity dinner which the von Struckers were hosting. When the Professor realised that there was a psionic dampening field in place, Gambit succeeded in getting Rogue to the twins and she managed to absorb Andreas von Strucker.

In addition to the lab floor layout and information about their team of addicts, Rogue also learned from Andreas the whole truth about Overdrive. After Andreas has walked in on his twin sister Andrea (whom he loved just a little _too_ much) having a one-night stand with Gambit, he had him fired. Unfortunately, the thieves they hired after Gambit were not of his high standard, and seeking both revenge and to regain Gambit's skills, Andreas came up with Overdrive as a way to control him. When Andreas saw Gambit at the dinner, he called in his team of addicts, but the X-men left before they could arrive.

Logan found out about Rogue learning to control her powers. Later, when Bobby and Jubilee started arguing again, everyone decided that they should start dating despite Bobby and Jubilee's protests that they weren't interested in each other like that. In the following conversation, Logan suggested that they get together the day that Rogue gets her powers under control, to which Bobby and Jubilee agreed.

Pulse and Kitty were able to learn the locations of all the Overdrive manufacturing plants, data backup location and the lab where it was developed from the information they secured from the von Strucker's office. They combined forces with the Genoshans and took down all the plants and the lab simultaneously.

After that, the X-men invaded the home of the von Struckers team of addicts, of which there were five. In the inevitable fight, Bobby was shattered in ice form, Jubilee was critically injured and Gambit was captured by Jessica, who turned out to be one of the supervisors. Bobby was fortunately able to reform himself. Gambit, however, was force-fed Overdrive by Jessica who wanted to take advantage of its aphrodisiac properties to have her way with him. Gambit killed her and was able to keep Overdrive from properly releasing into his system by charging the tablet.

Back at the med lab, Kitty was able to phase the Overdrive tablet out of Gambit's body. Jubilee's life was also saved when she received a donation of Logan's blood, which healed her. The five Overdrive addicts were sent to Genosha for rehabilitation.

The manufacture of Overdrive was finally put to an end when Gambit informed Andrea that Andreas was responsible for her husband's death and provided her with proof of the matter.

Rogue finally succeeded in gaining complete control over her power. This was proved when she and Gambit are finally able to have sex. They told - or rather showed – everyone at the party the X-men held to celebrate their success over Overdrive when Rogue walked into the room wearing the new dress that Gambit had bought her all those months ago and bearing more skin than anyone had ever seen her bare before. Bobby and Jubilee were forced to concede and start dating.

And now for **We Probably Should Have Locked the Door**...


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Gambit eyed the collection of bags on the floor of the bedroom he shared with Rogue.

"So, did yo' and Jubilee buy out the mall earlier?" he asked finally.

Rogue laughed.

"Not quite," she said. "Hmm, Ah suppose Ah should actually unpack everything at some point."

"Oui, I'd agree with dat," Gambit replied, bemused. "Otherwise we're going t' be tripping over everyt'ing every time we step inside."

Rogue poked her tongue out at him as she opened up one of the bags.

"I can t'ink o' much better uses fo' dat tongue," he informed her.

"Ah'm sure ya could, sugah," Rogue replied with a smirk. "Ah got cute clothes though."

"Oh well, dat's okay then," Gambit said. "As long as it's cute."

Rogue chuckled. "How do ya suppose their date's going?"

* * *

Bobby and Jubilee looked at each other across the table.

"So," said Jubilee.

"So," Bobby replied.

Silence.

This entire situation was awkward and they both knew they'd brought it on themselves. For months they teased Rogue and Gambit, pried into their sex life and made regular inquiries of when the proposal was going to happen. The natural response had been for them to tell Bobby and Jubilee to 'start dating already'. Bobby and Jubilee always denied having any of those kinds of feelings for each other.

In the end they made a deal, orchestrated by Logan; the day Rogue got her powers under control would be the day that Bobby and Jubilee started dating. Unbeknownst to the pair however, was that Rogue had been having some success with getting her powers under control.

So here they were, on their date, feeling more awkward around each other than they had in years.

"This is weird, isn't it?" Jubilee said.

"Yeah," Bobby agreed. "Very weird. Extremely weird even. Never thought -"

"Bobby?"

"Yeah?"

"You're babbling."

"Sorry."

Silence.

"I bet Logan knew Rogue was getting her powers under control," Bobby muttered.

"Probably," Jubilee said.

"We never should have agreed to that."

"Yep."

More silence.

"You know, I don't know why we're making such a big deal out of this," Jubilee said finally. "I mean, we're friends, we've always been friends and just because everyone says we should date doesn't automatically mean that anything romantic will happen between us."

"Yeah, that's right," Bobby agreed, sounding a little relieved. "I mean, we should date for awhile, you know, to keep them off our backs."

"Right."

"And if something happens - which I'm not saying anything will, but if something does, then it does. But if nothing does then well, that's okay too," Bobby said. "Plus it'll get them off our backs in the future."

"Nah," Jubilee said with a wave of her hand in dismissal. "They'll just start telling us to get back together."

"You may have a point there. Unless..." Bobby said thoughtfully. "Unless we have an enormous, huge spectacular fight and pretended that we hated each other or something and..."

Bobby trailed off, seeing the pitying expression on Jubilee's face.

"Don't think they'll buy it?" he asked.

"Not a word," Jubilee replied.

"Oh well, there goes that plan."

There was more silence as they picked at their food.

"We could always go the other direction," Bobby said.

"What other direction?" asked Jubilee.

"Well, you know," Bobby said, avoiding her gaze. "We could be all over each other. _All over_. To the point where everyone's all 'get a room' and stuff and then we can be all 'well you were the ones who wanted us to get together'."

Jubilee considered and pointed her fork at him.

"There are some prospects there," she said. "One down side, though."

"Yeah?"

"We have to be all over each other."

"Oh... right."

* * *

"How's it coming?" Kitty asked from where she was draped over the lounge.

"Good," Pete replied distractedly, concentrating on the canvas before him.

"Right," Kitty muttered, sighed and went back to starring off in the distance.

When Pete asked if he could paint her, Kitty thought it would be rather fun. Right up until she ended up sitting for hours on end, bored out of her mind.

After what felt like forever, Pete put his brush down.

"That is all I can do for today," he said. "The light is going."

"Ahh," Kitty replied, standing up and stretching with relief. "So you're going to want me to sit again?"

"Da."

"Oh. Right. Okay. Can I see -"

"No!" Pete exclaimed, noted the alarmed expression on his girlfriend's face and added: "Not until it's done."

"Okay."

* * *

Logan finished sliding the large pot plant into place.

"How's that?" he asked Storm.

Storm appraised the position for a moment and finally nodded.

"Yes," she said. "That will do quite nicely. Thank you, Logan."

"Any time."

He gave her a nod and left the arboretum.

* * *

"And how are you settling in?" Kurt asked of Pulse's image on the screen.

"Not too badly considering I've only been here a couple of days," Pulse replied. "My room's as tiny as a mouse's house but I have it all to myself, which is more than I can say for most people. Genosha is a lot more crowded than I was expecting. They're still getting in mutant refugees by the boatload."

"Really? Things haven't calmed down at all?" Kurt inquired thoughtfully.

"On that I couldn't say," Pulse replied. "But the USA is hardly the only country these guys are coming from. There are definite advantages to being bilingual over here, let me tell you."

* * *

The Professor and Hank looked down at the chessboard, considering. After what seemed like an immeasurable silence, Hank lifted one of his bishops and moved it into its new position.

"Check and mate," he said.

"Indeed," said the Professor. "Good game."

"A good game indeed," Hank agreed.

"And not before time too," the Professor went on. "We have a visitor."

"We do?" asked Hank politely.

But the answer to his query came in the form of Warren Worthington stepping into the doorway.

"Good evening, Warren," said the Professor.

"Good evening," Warren replied. "How are we all?"

"Quite well, thank you. Please," the Professor said, gesturing to a nearby chair, "have a seat."

"Don't mind if I do,' Warren said.

He walked over and turned the chair around she he could sit on it backwards.

"How's the game?" Warren asked.

"We'd just finished," said Hank. "And what brings you to our humble abode?"

"Just a social call," Warren replied. "And, I know it's late notice, but my parents are having a Masquerade Ball next month. I've got five invitations if any of you want to come."

"Five of us, to be exact?" Hank inquired. "Or are they 'plus one'?"

"Five exactly," Warren said, producing the invitations. "If you don't want to come, that's fine. It's probably just going to be a stuffy event anyway; lots of two-facedness, small talk, false sincerity, only this time people will be wearing real masks as well."

The Professor chuckled.

"Well," he said, "it may prove to be an interesting event. And how are your parents?"

"Same old, same old," Warren replied with a slight shrug. "They're still trying to pretend my wings don't bother them, but they still avoid me. I'm thinking about talking to Dad about opening a New York office. You know, that way we can go on pretending like everything's fine, but we'll have a legitimate excuse for avoiding those family get togethers."

* * *

Warren opted to stay overnight when the conversation went rather later than he expected, and in the morning he joined them for breakfast. One of his favourite things about the school was that it was full of mutants who, like himself, had some physical manifestation of their mutancy and it was normal.

"Bonjour, Warren," Gambit greeted, waving him over.

"Gambit," Warren replied with a nod as he approached the table with his plate. "Good morning all."

"Mornin'," Rogue said.

"Hey, no gloves," Warren said, sitting down and nodding towards Rogue's bare hands.

"Recent development," Rogue replied smugly. "Ah have muh powers under control."

"Well, that's certainly good news," Warren said. "Congratulations."

"Thanks. Hey, we should go for a flight later, or do ya have ta leave soon?"

"Nah, we can go for a flight. I'm not on a deadline or anything."

"Great. We should talk Storm into comin' with us too."

Warren chuckled.

"So, what else is happening?" he inquired.

"Actually we were just askin' Bobby and Jubes how their date went last night," Rogue said, smirking at the pair in question.

"Oh, you finally went out?" Warren asked. "About time."

"Would everyone stop saying that?" Jubilee demanded.

"Why?" asked Gambit. "Where would be the fun in dat?"

"So Remy, when are you planning on proposing?" Jubilee retorted.

"Actually I have no idea when I'll be proposing my next toast. Probably next time I share champagne wit' a group o' friends," Gambit replied with a smirk.

"Not a toast! Marriage. To Rogue."

"Why do you harass us about getting married?" Rogue asked and gestured to Kitty and Pete. "They've been dating longer."

"Hmm, good point," Jubilee said. "So Pete –"

"Thanks a lot, Rogue," Kitty cut in.

"You're welcome," Rogue replied.

"It's more fun to ask Remy though," Bobby said thoughtfully. "Pete just blushes and stammers –"

"It's kinda cute though," Jubilee said with a wink at Pete, who promptly coughed in embarrassment.

"- while Remy responds with smart-assery," Bobby finished.

"Hmm," Gambit considered, rubbing his chin. "So Bobby… when are _yo'_ planning t' propose?"

"Okay," Bobby said. "Jubes and I have only gone on one date, and only because we lost that stupid bet. The last thing I'm going to be doing is proposing marriage."

"Marriage?" Gambit replied innocently. "I meant a toast."

* * *

"Okay," Rogue said as the Blackbird took off with herself and Gambit on board. "What's the big hurry, Professor?"

_"I believe we have another Overdrive addict going through withdrawal,"_ the Professor replied over the communications system. _"I've sent the co-ordinates –"_

"Yes, Ah have them," Rogue replied. "Chuckin' a tantrum, huh?"

_"It would appear so. Just one this time."_

"Good. On our way," Rogue said, and after the comm system clicked off, added to Gambit: "Argh, this is the fifth one this week."

"Just the beginning, chére," Gambit replied solemnly. "We might have cut off the manufacture o' Overdrive, but we still have the users t' deal wit'. And it's only going t' get worse when the last o' the Overdrive still circulating finally runs out."

"That's what Ah'm afraid of," Rogue muttered. "Just how many addicts can there be? Ah didn't think the mutant population was that big, let alone with enough of them even capable of taking it without dyin' on the first dose."

"Why?" asked Gambit. "In a group of ten - yo', me, Logan, Stormy, the Professor, Iceboy, Firecracker, Chaton, Pete and Hank - trois o' us are capable o' taking it. Granted dat's a pretty small pool t' pick from but dat says thirty percent o' mutants are capable o' taking it. If dey only get one in trois, dat's still ten percent o' the mutant population dat have become addicts. What are dey estimating the mutant population t' be dese days, anyway?"

"Blazes if Ah know," Rogue replied. "Last we heard from Genosha they thought there was about eight million, based on the number of refugees they've been takin' in and the pre-existing population. If that's half the world's population, then by your reckoning there'd be... one million and six hundred thousand addicts."

"Well, you'd only count the countries dat dey'd actually manufactured it in," Gambit said. "The point is dat dere could easily be a few thousand addicts in the States alone, even if it was less dan ten percent o' mutants."

"Ah sure hope we don't have ta clean up after all of 'em," Rogue said.

"Dat makes deux o' us."

Twenty minutes later, the Blackbird had landed at their destination. There were police, fire and ambulance crews everywhere and it was quite easy to see from the extensive damage in the moderate town just where their addict had been. Shop windows were broken, car windows shattered and alarms ringing loudly. There was also a number of injured and a crowd of people watching.

"Come on out with your hands up," said a police officer through a megaphone from behind a hastily-erected barricade. "You're surrounded."

Rogue and Gambit looked at each other. Gambit shook his head and Rogue rolled her eyes. Right, like that was really going to help. Rogue moved behind Gambit and lifted him up into the air. Together they flew over the crowd and Gambit snickered when he head the officer with the megaphone proclaim "Hey you can't go in there! We have a dangerous mutant on our hands!"

They landed and looked around.

"Get out of there!" called the police officer again.

"First guess, this guy's a feral," said Gambit, gesturing to a set of recent claw marks across a wall.

"Okay, so we're probably lookin' at enhanced senses and a healin' factor, then," Rogue said. "They –"

Rogue was cut off by the sound of a low growl. The two stood stock still and listened. Gambit inclined his head towards one of the abandoned shops and Rogue gave a slight nod. Slowly they edged towards the open doors, having no delusions about their ability to sneak up on someone who likely had super smell and hearing.

There was a snarl and abruptly a long-haired man in ragged clothes launched himself out of the store on all fours. Gambit just dodged in time, his staff snapping out and extending out of reflex. The man caught himself before he could make an ungraceful landing, turned on them and snarled once more.

"We're here ta help ya," Rogue said softly, extending a hand and crouching down to his level.

"Dere's somet'ing –" Gambit began.

He got no chance to finished, however, as the man chose that moment to lunge at Rogue. Rogue toppled backwards - the downside of her crouching position - and her back slammed against the ground. The man attempted to claw her with fingernails that would make Sabretooth jealous, but of course, Rogue's invulnerability made penetration impossible. She caught his hands while Gambit hauled him up with one hand and shoved a gas mask in the man's face with the other. As the man breathed in the initial lungful of sedation gas, Rogue took over holding him up and Gambit fitted the mask in place.

"I'm t'inking dat withdrawl has made our feral feral," Gambit drawled.

"Indeed," Rogue said and glanced past them. "And here comes the cavalry."

Gambit slipped out his dark sunglasses and put them on as he turned. "I got dis."

Rogue smirked and began preparing the mutant for flight.

"Ahh, good," said Gambit, flashing a badge faster than anyone could take in what it was. "Just the people I was about to talk to. I am sorry we took so long to get here, but you can assure the civilians that they can now return about their business. Good work keeping the streets clear, by the way. I hope that no one was badly injured?"

"As a matter of fact –" the police officer began and cut himself off in shock at the sight of Rogue floating in the air with the unconscious mutant slung over her back.

"Sorry, afraid we can't stay and chat," Gambit went on blithely. "Can't leave the containment job only half done, after all. Have a good day."

Rogue scooped Gambit up from behind and before the local authorities could voice any more questions or objections, they'd flown off.

"Have a good day?" Rogue queried, sounding amused.

"I thought dat might do down better dan 'beat it and let us do our job'," Gambit replied cheerfully. "Besides, now dey can't complain 'bout us not being polite."

Rogue snickered. They made their way back to the Blackbird and Rogue kept watch on their passenger while Gambit flew them back to the mansion. Upon their arrival back home, their first stop was to the med lab.

"Got a new one fo' yo', Hank," Gambit said.

"Ahh yes, the Professor informed me we were expecting company," Hank replied, a little distractedly from his desk.

Rogue grinned and transported the mutant to one of the bed. She and Gambit set up the new gas mask, attached to a much larger gas supply and were just finishing when Hank walked in.

"Very good," he said. "I'll do the necessary scans and alert Kitty so she can remove the Overdrive stubs. I really don't know how we'd remove them from some of the patients we get in."

"We t'ink dis one's a healer," Gambit said. "Being a feral and all. Which reminds me, dis one was decidedly animalistic, what wit' all dat snivelling and snarling it was doing. Might not mean anyt'ing, but it did make me t'ink dat mebbe withdrawal is sending him feral."

"Hmm," Hank considered. "We'll make a note of that in the report when we send him to Genosha."

"And in the meantime," Rogue said, "Ah'm gonna get changed. Really, we need ta do something about these uniforms. These guys keep ripping holes in mine."

"I like the holes..." Gambit said slyly.

"Ya would."

* * *

Some days later, Professor Xavier, Hank, Storm, Logan, Gambit, Rogue, Bobby, Jubilee, Kitty, Pete and Kurt gathered in the war room.

"As you are all aware, Overdrive has caused a rapid increase in mutant crime since its emergence," Hank said. "Not just robbery, but also more violent crimes such as rape and murder."

"Yes," said the Professor. "Unfortunately, it's not so easy to grab them; they're usually gone by the time we hear about it, if we do at all."

"Exactly. The result is an increase of violent crimes towards mutants, particularly from active anti-mutant groups such as the Purifiers and the Friends of Humanity. As I'm certain you can expect, most of their victims are not the addicts, but innocent people, some of whom are not even mutants at all," Hank went on. "Anti-human groups amongst the mutants are growing as a result, which they cite as a defensive action."

"But it's just an excuse fo' more violence," Gambit observed. "The anti-humans kill the anti-mutants. The anti-mutants kill the anti-humans. So continues the spiral. And yo' people wonder why I prefer t' stay out o' politics."

"Ah thought the reason why ya haven't formally joined the X-men was because the Professor and Storm would make you give up stealin'," Rogue teased him.

"Minor detail," Gambit replied with a smirk.

"Ahem," Hank cut in. "It is an unfortunate turn of events. Mutant acceptance was at an all time high prior to the emergence of Overdrive –"

"And now it's at an all time low?" Bobby suggested and then turned on the dramatics: "And now the X-men are all that's standing between all out war –"

"Don't laugh, kid," Logan said.

"We're hoping that it won't come to that," the Professor said. "Still, if it does, we need to be ready."

"We've been spending all our time here preparing for this possibility, Professor," Kitty said firmly. "We'll be ready."

The rest of the X-men expressed their agreement with confidence. Gambit and Logan shared a look that clearly stated "yeah they have no idea what they're getting into".

"I'm just amazed," said Jubilee. "Who would have thought that one thing would have caused so much chaos?"

"The butterfly effect," said Hank. "Does the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?"

Rogue jabbed Gambit in the ribs.

"Ya just had ta sleep with Andrea von Strucker, didn't ya?" she said.

"In hindsight," Gambit said with a grin and a glint in his eye, "we probably should have locked the door."


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

A few days later found Gambit in town. He parked his motorcycle outside of the casino as he started on his way in, heard his Guild phone ring.

"Gambit," he said.

"Remy, it's Sarah," said the harried voice on the other line. "I need your help."

Gambit stopped in his walk and looked back towards his motorcycle.

"What do you need?" Gambit asked.

"You. I'm in Chicago."

"Same place?"

"Yeah."

"On my way."

They hung up and Gambit rang Rogue's phone.

"Hello?" said Rogue upon answering.

"I'm going to be gone fo' a few days," he said. "Somet'ing came up."

"Oh... okay," Rogue replied. "Ah'm guessin' you're not coming back ta the mansion ta pack anything?"

"Non, I have everyt'ing I need."

"Do ya know how long you're gonna –"

"Non. Désolé, chére, I have t' go. Je t'aime."

"Ah love ya too. Good luck with... whatever it is."

"Merci," Gambit replied.

He hung up, turned off his phone and slipped it back into his trench coat pocket. He put on his helmet and got back on his motorcycle. It was a long trip to Chicago, but Marrow wouldn't ask him for help unless it was bad.

Gambit drove most of the night until he reached a point where he knew he was too tired to continue. He checked into a roadside inn for what was left of the night, slept, checked out and had a late breakfast in the morning and then took off again. It was midafternoon by the time he made it to Chicago and parked his motorcycle at the meeting place.

The first time that Gambit had met with Sarah here was ten, twelve years ago. He had been walking down the street, minding his own business when he noticed some kind of commotion happening on the other side of the road. The crowd presenting him with a prime opportunity for picking pockets, the last thing Gambit had expected was to see everyone harassing a couple of obviously mutant children. The younger was green-skinned and obviously scared, while the older had pink hair, bones growing from her body and was growling at the menacing crowd. Gambit recognised her instantly as the girl he had rescued from the sewers during the Morlock Massacre. He'd only known her long enough to get her to freedom, but he often wondered what had happened to that sole child he'd managed to save. A few perfectly aimed charged cards at strategic targets – cars, shop fronts and a nearby fire hydrant – was enough to disperse the crowd. Gambit had approached the two, charged another card in front of them and revealed his eyes in order to show them he was a friend. He introduced himself as Gambit, and charmed them into admitting their names were Marrow and Anole. He told them to hide after that and had brought them some food – which had obviously been the cause for the commotion.

It was that same hiding spot that Gambit headed for now, after a quick stop at one of the local stores for some fresh food. He had quickly been accepted by the large group of mutants Marrow associated with, but neither he nor Marrow were particularly comfortable with him hanging around much. It had taken her awhile, but Marrow had remembered where she recognised Gambit from. Marrow didn't like the idea of accepting any more help from anyone outside of their group, let alone someone who had already saved her life. Gambit, on the other hand, simultaneously hated the memories that being with Marrow provoked, but felt like he was responsible for her wellbeing. It made for a somewhat awkward relationship.

"I see you've come bearing gifts again," came Marrow's voice from the shadows.

"Man's gotta eat," Gambit replied as he always did.

"Yeah, well," Marrow said with a sniff. "About time you got here."

Gambit chuckled as he followed her into the dark. "I drove all the way here from New York. I think I made pretty good time actually. How are yo' doing, Sarah?"

"Just dandy," Marrow replied in a tone that implied the complete opposite as she headed down a set of stairs.

"I'm sure."

As usual, Gambit fought the urge to screw up his nose at the smell as he stepped into the sewer system right behind Marrow. Gambit did not like that Marrow went from living in one sewer to another. The new group she had taken up with tended to move around a bit, but their fallback position was the city sewers. The likenesses between them and the Morlocks was a little disconcerting. If there hadn't been so many of them, Gambit would have taken them under his wing, but as it was he had to make do with a few lessons on picking pockets and general tips on petty theft.

Marrow led Gambit into the main cavern where their housing, such as it was, was set up. Gambit recognised Anole sleeping and shaking on an old, worn bed. There was a woman with purple hair who stood out like a sore thumb by virtue of the fact that she looked far too gorgeous for the setting. She was talking to a man with an eye patch over his right eye, whom Gambit recognised as Erg. Marrow may have been the only one he had been able to save, but she hadn't been the only survivor of the Morlock Massacre: there had been three others. Erg was one. A pretty young girl named Skids was another, and the fourth had been Callisto, named for her mother and the Morlock leader, Callisto. That had been something else Gambit hadn't liked about this new group Marrow hung out with; both the Morlocks and Gene Nation were led by women named Callisto. He found it somewhat unnerving.

"This your friend, love?" asked the purple-haired woman, looking up at them. Gambit raised his eyebrows at the English accent emerging from the lips of a Japanese woman.

"Yep. Oh, right you wouldn't have met," Marrow said. "Remy, this is Psylocke. Betsy, this is Gambit. Psy's our triple threat."

"Because yo' can sing, dance and act?" asked Gambit as he put down the bags of food he had brought.

"Telepathy, telekinesis and teleportation through shadows," Psylocke replied, bemused. "Sarah just likes to call me that."

A sick feeling filled Gambit's stomach at the word 'telekinetic', but he maintained a composed expression on his face. "I see. So... where is everyone?"

"You're looking at them," Marrow replied grimly.

"Come again?" Gambit asked.

Marrow gestured to herself and her three companions. "We're all that's left."

Gambit's composed expression shifted to horror. There was a time where this cavern was crowded with people. "Merde. What the hell happened?"

"Alcatraz, Overdrive and the Purifiers," Marrow said darkly. "Okay, the Purifiers have been giving us trouble for years, but they got worse in the wake of Overdrive. They used the increased mutant crime rate as an excuse to initiate a recruitment drive. That's why I called you, Remy. The Purifiers are manufacturing missiles at an alarming rate. Psylocke recently found out their intended target is Genosha."

"If the estimates are correct, half the world's mutant population is on dat island," Gambit said.

"Which is exactly why we're concerned," Psylocke said. "There are too many of them to take out on our own."

"Says you," said Erg.

"We've considered stealth, but I can't take passengers when I teleport," Psylocke went on as if Erg hadn't said anything, "and the Purifiers have a psionic dampening field in place, so my telepathy is useless and trying to use my telekinesis is like wading through molasses."

Gambit mentally winced at the word 'telekinesis'.

"We figured if anyone could figure out a way to pull this off, it would be you," said Marrow.

Gambit nodded slowly. "Any idea on when dey're planning on sending dem?"

"I believe they're still amassing missiles at this stage," Psylocke replied. "They don't know what Genosha's defences are like by they do know that it's being ruled by a man who can manipulate metal, to say nothing of what any of the other mutants there can do. They're trying to make sure as many missiles get through as possible. They're also working on a missile delivery system at another base, but we don't know where or what form it takes. Need to know amongst the minions and all that."

"They take the missiles to the other base regularly too," said Erg. "We've been trying to follow them but we always end up in this one empty warehouse in Tennessee."

"Have yo' been in contact with Genosha at all?" Gambit asked.

"We don't have any contacts on Genosha," Erg replied, sniffed and then added: "Unless Skids went there."

"Skids is alive?" Gambit asked.

"She left us after Alcatraz," Marrow replied. "We don't know what happened to her after that."

"Callisto?"

"Dead at Alcatraz."

"Okay den," Gambit said grimly. "Well, I know folks on Genosha so I'll give dem the heads up. If their home is at risk o' being bombed, I t'ink dey deserve a little heads up, no?"

"How come I'm not surprised you know people on Genosha?" Marrow said, shaking her head.

Gambit's chuckle was interrupted by Anole waking up from his restless slumber. The shaking seemed to increase and he began muttering and stuttering words Gambit couldn't entirely understand. Gambit pointed his thumb at Anole.

"He okay?" Gambit asked.

"Overdrive withdrawal," Erg said.

"Anole was kind of fun when he was high," Psylocke said with a sly smile. "Especially when he started flirting with Erg."

"Shut up," Erg said, glaring at her.

"Anole was an idiot for ever taking the stuff," Marrow snapped.

"Aww come on, Sarah," said Erg. "Sometimes you just need to escape and –"

"Anole and Crusher called far too much attention to us," Marrow insisted angrily. "It's because of their antics that we've lost so many people to the damned Purifiers."

"How long was he on Overdrive for?" asked Gambit.

Everyone looked at him.

"I don't know," Marrow said. "A few months."

"Well, dat doesn't tell me much, chére," Gambit said. "It only came out March dis year."

"June or something," Psylocke said.

"How many did he need fo' a high?" Gambit asked. "How often did he get high?"

"He needed two for a high," Erg replied. "Once or twice a week, whenever he could get the money. Why?"

"Okay let's say four tablets a week fo'... four months... let's call it sixteen weeks, dat's sixty-four stubs, assuming dey have haven't all finished digesting yet," Gambit considered. "Not too bad, I suppose. Dere was dat one guy dat had a couple o' hundred o' the t'ings."

"What are you talking about?" asked Marrow.

"The way Overdrive worked was dat the tablets were built in layers," Gambit explained. "The first layer was the biggest and came off easily – it was the layer dat provided the initial high. However, the rest o' the tablet – what we've been calling the 'stub' – was designed to remain in the stomach fo' weeks, even months before it was completely digested. Which means the drug was continuing to feed int' the body over however long it take fo' the tablet to completely dissolve. However, at that point, the drug is leaking int' the system at a slower rate; enough t' give a taste, not enough t' get high. We need t' get the stubs out o' Anole's system."

"Whoa, wait, he's still on Overdrive, right now?" Erg asked.

"How do you know so much about it?" asked Marrow.

"I was working wit' the X-men who began investigating it when it came out," Gambit replied with a half shrug. "We also coordinated with Genosha t' end the manufacture. Genosha also has the only rehab centre I know about dat deals wit' Overdrive addicts."

"We? You're with the X-men now?" Marrow demanded. "Those were the traitors who supported the Cure!"

"Aww you know me, Sarah," Gambit drawled. "I don't like t' get int' politics. Although, I have t' say in the matter o' Alcatraz, I have t' side wit' the X-men. Yo' were wanting t' destroy the Cure, no? Except dat the source o' the Cure was a twelve year old boy, and yo' know how I feel about child killing."

"We didn't know there was a boy involved until we were already there," said Psylocke. "By that point the battle had already started."

"I still maintain the X-men are nothing but a bunch of flatscan sympathisers," Marrow insisted. "I can't believe you're associating with them!"

"Oh it's worse dan dat, chére," Gambit said with a slight smile. "I've been friends wit' deux o' dem fo' even longer dan I've been friends wit' yo' and I'm dating one o' dem."

"Ohhh," Marrow said. "Oh of course, I should have realised. You're wining and dining your way through the X-men women."

"Non," Gambit said firmly. "Actually Rogue and I have been dating since January."

Marrow stared at him.

"Ten _months_?" she exclaimed. "Okay, who are you and what have you done with Remy?"

Gambit laughed. Marrow pulled out one of her bones, sharpened, and pointed it at his neck.

"No," she said dangerously. "I'm serious."

"Whoa dere, petite," Gambit said, holding up his hands. "So am I. Is it so hard t' believe I may have actually found someone?"

"Yes," Marrow replied.

"Yo' t'ink it's easier t' believe I might be a shapeshifter or somet'ing?"

"Yes."

Psylocke laughed.

"Is dis the part where I start t'inking o' tings dat only yo' and I would know?" Gambit asked.

"Psylocke?" Marrow said, keeping her eyes trained on Gambit.

"I can't read his mind," Psylocke replied, obviously amused. "Some kind of static."

"Dat proof enough fo' yo', chére?" Gambit asked.

Marrow glowered at him and slowly pulled her bone knife away. She started to turned from him and then a second later, twisted back again with full-force. Gambit grabbed her knife hand with plenty of room to spare. Pointed bones emerged rapidly from Marrow's body and with equal speed Gambit pulled out his staff and extended it. Two seconds later, Marrow was on the ground, cursing the bones growing out of her back that had given her a less than comfortable landing.

"Am I going t' have t' make t'ings go boom? Or did dat fall knock some senses int' yo'?" Gambit asked languidly. "Having a serious relationship fo' the first time in my life doesn't make me an impostor."

"But this is _you_ we're talking about," Marrow pointed out as she picked herself up. "Erg still thinks we've slept together."

"Hey, it's a valid theory," Erg insisted. "You're always more relaxed after Remy leaves."

"Shut up."

"Can you sleep with her again, Remy?" asked Erg. "She's been on edge lately."

"Gee, I wonder why that could be," Marrow snapped.

"Desole, mon ami," Gambit replied with a grin. "Sarah and I have never been intimate and even if we had been, I'm the 'faithful boyfriend' variety."

"For that I'm sure Rogue is most appreciative," said Psylocke.

"Besides," Marrow said stiffly with a glower at Erg, "We've known him since we were kids. Anything more than a five year age difference is just creepy."

"Ahem, yes well," Gambit said with a cough. "So, I don't recall; how good is Anole's regeneration? Because we have t' get rid o' the Overdrive stubs. O' course, the best course o' action would be t' get him t' the X-men –"

"Forget it," Marrow said.

"- 'cause dey actually have a qualified doctor on staff," Gambit went on calmly as if she hadn't said a thing. "But since yo' don't consider dat t' be an option, we're just going t' have t' do it ourselves. We're going t' need a sharp knife and somet'ing t' put the stubs in. And some latex gloves wouldn't go astray either."

"You're just going to cut in open?" asked Psylocke.

"Have t' get dem out," Gambit insisted, "Overdrive is lethal, and he sure isn't going t' get through withdrawal if he's still got it in his system."

"I'll get what you need," said Psylocke. "Erg, be a dear and put the food away."

"Yes ma'am," Erg said with a mock salute.

* * *

Logan walked into the rec room and the first thing that got his attention was:

"Darling," Bobby said dramatically as he knelt on one knee before Jubilee with her hand in his, "I love you."

Snikt.

"Logan," Storm said, grabbing his arm, "they're playing a game."

It was only after Storm pointed it out that Logan realised that Rogue, Kitty and Pete were also with Bobby and Jubilee.

"Will you give me a smile?" Bobby asked, batting his eyes at Jubilee.

"I'm sorry my darling," Jubilee replied with a straight face, "but I just can't smile."

"Dammit," said Bobby and stood up.

"Umm, 'Ro?" said Logan, "what game?"

"It's called 'Darling I Love You'," Storm replied. "If you laugh, you become It."

Bobby got down on the floor and wriggled over to Rogue.

"Darling, I love you," Bobby proclaimed, reaching out his hands like a man in the desert reaches out for water. "Will you give me a smile?"

Bobby looked so silly, Rogue was hard pressed not to start smiling.

"Darling," she began and then started snickering.

"Yay!" Bobby cheered. "You're It!"

"Yeah, yeah," Rogue replied with a wave of her hand.

They swapped places and then Rogue approached Pete.

"Darling," she said, putting on a shy demeanour, "Ah love you, will you give me a smile?"

"Darling I love you," Pete replied with a perfectly straight face, "but I just can't smile."

Rogue grumbled, looked around and spotted Logan and Storm watching them. A grin appeared on her face.

"So wanna play?" she asked, and without waiting for a reply, looking up at Logan with big, round eyes. "Darling I love you. Will you give me a smile?"

Logan stared while Rogue gave him this cute and adorable look.

"Ten second rule!" Bobby shouted. "Logan didn't reply in time. He's It!"

"What?" Logan demanded as Rogue giggled and bounded back to her chair. "I never agreed to play."

"All you have to do, is say 'Darling I love you, will you give me a smile' and get them to laugh. Or smile. Whichever," said Jubilee. "C'mon Wolverino, it's fun."

"And no tickling or straying from the script," Kitty added quickly.

Logan growled at their grinning faces and then turned to Storm.

"Darlin' I love you," he said gruffly. "Will you give me a smile?"

"Darling, I love you," Storm replied tolerantly, "but I just can't smile."

Storm didn't so much as twitch, so Logan stalked over to the group, wondering how'd he'd been roped into this so easily. He looked at each of the girls in turn and then stopped in front of Kitty.

"Darlin' I love you, will you give me a smile?" he asked with the same inflection he'd given Storm.

"Darling, I love you, but I just can't smile," Kitty replied, and then promptly burst into nervous giggles.

"You're It," Logan informed her dryly.

"Darn," Kitty said good-naturedly.

"Hey, you know who you should do?" Rogue said gleefully. "You should involve Hank."

Kitty giggled. "Yeah, let's do it."

Logan stood back with Storm while the five abandoned the rec room for the med lab.

"Are we sure those kids have graduated high school?" he asked.

Storm laughed.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Rogue looked at the crowd from behind a red, feathered mask. Everyone was elegantly dressed and wearing a variety of masks ranging from the simple to the extravagant. With her was the Professor (who looked hilarious in a mask, in Rogue's opinion), Storm (who looked gorgeous in any thing), Kitty and Pete.

"Remind me again why we agreed ta this?" Rogue asked.

"The Professor thought we should do some networking," Pete replied.

"Networkin'," Rogue mused. "Isn't that code for pretendin' ta be friends with someone so ya can get things from them?"

Pete chuckled.

"Oh look," said Kitty. "There's Warren."

Warren was in a tuxedo and a simple black mask, but the thing that made him really stick out in the crowd was that for one he hadn't bothered to hide his wings underneath a long coat. He noticed them at the same time and weaved his way through the crowd towards them.

"Good evening," he said. "I'm glad you could join us."

"Thank you for the invitation," the Professor replied. "I see you have quite a turn out."

"Yeah, and not everyone's here yet," Warren said musingly. "You guys look great, by the way."

"Thank you," said Storm with a slight smile.

"You appear to be causing quite a stir yourself," said Kitty, indicating the glances their group was getting.

"I'm in the mood to be perverse," Warren replied. "Everyone already knows I'm a mutant, they just don't like acknowledging it. Today I'm making them. It's actually kind of fun."

"Remy would approve," Rogue said with a grin.

"I'm sure he would," Warren replied dryly. "Anyway, I'm afraid I can't talk for long. More people to unnerve, erm, I mean greet."

Rogue and Kitty laughed. The group split up and began mingling with the crowd. Warren made a point throughout the evening to make sure his friends weren't just standing around bored and conducted the occasional rescue, although at one point it was not Kitty who needed rescuing, but the political activist she was talking to.

Later in the evening, Rogue was able to catch up with Warren and the two began chatting about their recent flight and how they should do it again some time.

"And speaking of nature," Rogue said, looking around. "Where's the ladies' around this place?"

"Uhh, I think it's over -" Warren began as he turned around.

There was no time to finish the sentence. As Warren turned, Rogue following his line of sight, he came face to face with one of the guests, who was barely a metre away and had a knife emerging from his sleeve.

"Die mutie!" the man cried.

Fortunately for Warren, Rogue registered the sharp, six-inch blade in barely enough time to step in between him and his attacker. The knife hit her instead, the force of the blow causing it to run down Rogue's invulnerable body and slit open the front of her dress.

"Well, that was rude," Rogue said as she caught both of the attacker's hands. "And Ah just bought this dress too,"

Behind her, Warren swallowed hard while his would-be-murderer spouted off some generic anti-mutant sentiments. By now everyone was turning to look. Rogue mentally thanked God that at least her bra had remained intact and she wasn't completely falling out of her ruined dress.

"You're a filthy mutie too," the attacker practically snarled at Rogue.

"Me?" Rogue asked. "Oh no, you must be mistaken. Ah had a shower before Ah came, so that actually makes me a clean mutant."

He spat in her face then proceeded to shriek about how she had to let him go, that they wouldn't stand for the 'muties' contaminating the gene pool and the human race any longer and that they were all abominations and needed to be wiped out. The room had all but fallen silent in response.

"So," Rogue said calmly but authoritatively, "You admit ya were tryin' ta kill Warren."

"Yes, I admit it," he said, proudly even.

"Good," Rogue replied and then lifted her head to look at the spectators. "Ya'll heard that, right?"

There was a brief moment of silence and then a murmur of assent across the room.

"Even better. Now, if someone will do me a favour and call the police? Ah don't want ta hold this guy all night."

She wouldn't mind a change of clothes, either, or at least a jacket.

* * *

Psylocke slipped through the shadows into the room where Gambit had set up shop. She could only assume that he had stolen the computer and the three monitors sitting on the table in front of him, as they hadn't been in the van on the trip out of the city. Right now, however, Gambit was fast asleep, his head resting on the table top. Psylocke wandered around to see what was on the screens and as her heels clacked on the floor, Gambit's head shot up. He looked around, blinked a few times and then his gaze fell on Psylocke.

"Good morning," she said as she dropped her bag on the floor.

"Good morning," Gambit replied groggily. "What time is it?"

"After nine."

"Merde."

"What exactly are you doing?" asked Psylocke.

As she asked the question, Psylocke leaned on the table next to Gambit with both her hands. Was it her imagination or did he shy away?

"Finally got int' the Purifiers' Base security feed last night," Gambit replied as he disconnected. "I'm getting a feel fo' the layout o' the base and making notes on security routines."

"So we can break in without getting caught."

"Right. O' course, in the short term all we can really do is disable the equipment. I'm not familiar wit' the exact missile dat dey're using so I need t' confirm what kind o' warhead we're dealing wit' before we start looking at how t' dispose o' dem."

"Easiest solution would be to detonate the lot of them where they stand," Psylocke replied. "Wipe out the Purifiers at the same time."

"Easiest, perhaps," Gambit replied. "Safest? Non. Our own safety aside, we have no idea at this stage where dey're being stored in relation t' civilian complexes. No telling how many innocent people might get killed."

"True. You can't tell how large the base is?" Psylocke asked.

"Trying t' piece t'gether floor plans from surveillance tapes is easier said dan done," Gambit said, pushing away from the table. "It's even harder when dere are no outdoor cameras where yo' need 'em and yo' have basement levels t' contend wit'. I need more time t' map t'ings out, and from dere extrapolate distances and _den_ we can try t' fit t'ings on a map."

Psylocke nodded thoughtfully as Gambit headed to the kitchenette to make himself breakfast. Even just woken up he was still a fine looking man.

"You do this kind of thing often, love?" she asked.

"Casing places comes wit' the territory," Gambit replied with a half shrug. "Different jobs, different requirements. Personally, I prefer t' pick up blueprints, but dat's not always an option."

"Like now?"

"Uh huh."

Gambit turned away and continued putting his breakfast together. He could practically feel Psylocke's eyes on him and he wished she would just go away. The rational part of him knew that just because she was telekinetic didn't automatically mean she would try to have her way with him like Jessica did. The rest of him was in a state of panic whenever she was in the room.

"Marrow was going to meet us here," said Psylocke to break the awkward silence that rose between them. "Erg was going to stay with Anole. It's nice to see the shakes have finally gone."

"Bon," was Gambit's terse reply.

At the beginning of another awkward silence, Psylocke opened up her bag and pulled out the day's newspaper from amongst the other things she had acquired that morning. She pulled up a spare chair, rested her crossed legs on the table and began to read.

Gambit finished making his breakfast and turned around to see Psylocke quite at home. He didn't know which image got to him more: The telekinetic making herself at home in his room, or one of Marrow's friends actually reading. He knew Marrow could only read a little, and he was reasonably certain the same was true for Erg and Anole. He wondered if he'd be able to talk them into returning to Xavier's with him when this was over. Three – four counting Psylocke – was a lot more manageable than 30+.

He pushed the keyboard out of the way with his plate and set his mug on beside it as he sat back down again. Halfway through his breakfast, the door opened and shut with a bang and Marrow came stalking in.

"Morning," she said as she stepped into view.

"Morning," Gambit replied before filling his mouth again.

"Flyboy's made the front page," Psylocke said, turning the newspaper to the front page to show Marrow. "Some guy tried to murder him at the Masquerade Ball the Worthingtons were having."

"Hmph," Marrow snorted, taking the paper to get a better look at the photo. "Bet his parents hired him."

"Actually, I think he'd wearing a Purifier band."

"Worthingtons are probably funding the Purifiers."

"What's dis?" asked Gambit, looking up at them.

"Flyboy, umm, Warren Worthington the Third," Psylocke replied. "Son of the bastard who came up with the Cure. Some guy I think might be a Purifier tried to kill him. His girlfriend saved his ass."

"Warren doesn't have a girlfriend," Gambit replied.

"Not according to the paper," Psylocke replied with a shrug as Marrow handed Gambit the newspaper. "Although I will take the point that you can't take anything they write as gospel."

"You know Flyboy?" Marrow asked.

"He prefers 'Angel' as his mutant name," Gambit replied.

He studied the photo on the front page, which had been taken by someone's mobile phone at the event. Rogue in her sliced dress was holding the arms of the Purifier in front of her and behind her was Warren with his wings out and looking frazzled. Rogue's mask was big and elaborate enough to hide half her face and obscure her white streak. Nevertheless, Gambit had no problems recognising his own girlfriend.

"And he had better not be dating her," Gambit went on, "or I'm going to kick his ass."

"I'll help," said Marrow.

"Be nice. It's not his fault his father's a douche bag," Psylocke said and looked at Gambit curiously. "Who is she then?"

"_My_ girlfriend, Rogue," Gambit replied.

"Flyboy – Angel's with the X-men too, huh?" asked Psylocke. "We thought he was acting on his own at Alcatraz."

"I wouldn't know about dat," Gambit replied. "He's not wit' the X-men per say. I t'ink o' him as a 'friend o' the X-men'."

"Like you?" Marrow asked dangerously.

"Sounds appropriate," Gambit said with a shrug as he pulled out his mobile phone. "Excusez-moi."

The two women fell silent while Gambit dialled and put the phone to his ear.

"Remy!" Rogue's voice said happily upon answering the phone.

"What's dis I hear about yo' leavin' me fo' another man?" Gambit asked.

"Ya saw that too, huh? Stupid reporters."

"Oui, how dare dey blow your cover."

"Ah know!" Rogue joked. "And here Warren and Ah thought we were gettin' away with it too."

"So I have t' ask..."

"Yeah?"

"Is the baby mine?"

"Idiot."

"Scamp."

"Rascal."

"Vixen."

"Ol' scoundrel."

"Skunkhead."

"Hey!" Rogue objected and then quickly added sweetly: "Remykins."

"Roguey-poo."

"Snookums."

"Cuddle bear."

"Honey bunch."

"I think we're going to have to stop there," Gambit said, grinning at the freaked out expression on Marrow's face. "I suspect Sarah's deux cutesy nicknames away from trying t' kill me as an impostor again."

Rogue laughed. Gambit had kept in contact with Rogue, but had only told her the bare minimum and that he was helping Marrow with something. Rogue remembered Marrow from the memories she had absorbed from him and Gambit was thankful she didn't ask any more questions.

"Tell Sarah Ah said 'hi'," Rogue said.

"Roguey says 'hi Sarah'," said Gambit.

Marrow just shook her head. Gambit chuckled.

"I t'ink I scared her, chére," Gambit said gleefully. "She just doesn't know what t' do."

"As long as ya come back ta me alive and in one piece."

"Oh I will."

"How's it going anyway? Any ETA?"

"Non," Gambit replied. "Too early t' tell."

"Yeah, Ah thought that would be the case," Rogue said with a sigh. "Ah miss you."

"I miss yo' too, ma chére. I'd better go. I'll talk t' yo' again soon, no?"

"Ya had better. Ah'll tell everyone ya said 'hi'."

"Bon. Love yo'."

"Love ya too."

Gambit looked away as he turned off his phone and put it back into this pocket.

"Aww," said Psylocke. "Aren't you just so cute?"

"Cute!" Marrow exploded. "Remy is _not _cute! He's –"

"Actually I have it on good authority that I have very cute buns," Gambit replied cheerfully.

Marrow waved a finger at him in exasperation.

"That sounds more like you," she said. "But that guy who was on the phone before? That was not you. That was some other guy I have never met in my life."

"Sarah, you're making too big a deal out of this," Psylocke said patiently. "This is perfectly normal 'in love' behaviour. Well, okay I will concede that not everyone feels the need to engage in name-calling wars, but then some people like to engage in 'you hang up' 'no, you hang up' wars, which are far more tacky."

"Esh," said Gambit. "If yo' ever catch moi doing dat, shoot me."

Psylocke laughed.

"Oh believe me," Marrow said darkly. "I will."

"I t'ink I shall take dis moment t' lay upon yo' the curse dat Tante Mattie laid on moi," Gambit said, cleared his throat and continued: "One day you're going t' find a fille – okay in your case, a garçon – who will sweep yo' off your feet. Unless yo' like filles, in which case –"

"The curse I got from my parents was 'I hope you have one just like you'," Psylocke interjected with a giggle.

"Oui, I got dat one too," Gambit said.

"That nice for you," Marrow practically snapped at them. "My family got _slaughtered_. Now if you're done with your lovey-dovey crap, I'd like to find out where things are at with the Purifier base?"

* * *

"Hey Rogue," called Jubilee at the door way of the rec room. "Your boyfriend's here!"

Rogue lifted her head eagerly and then glared at Jubilee when she realised that she was talking about Warren and not Gambit.

"Don't you start," said Warren as they walked over to join Rogue, Bobby, Kitty and Pete on the lounges. "I'm getting enough crap as it is."

"Tell me about it," Rogue said, and pointed her thumb at Jubilee and Bobby. "If it's not these two making like I'm two-timin' Remy, then it's Kitty finding all the websites and news articles she can pairin' us up. Ah mean, seriously, they don't even know muh name. How can they possibly do so much speculatin'?"

"You think you have it bad," Warren replied. "I've been getting all sorts of proposals this week, and not just the business variety."

"Marriage?" Jubilee asked with a giggle.

"Yeah, it's like: I don't even know you," Warren said, shaking his head.

"Oookay," said Rogue. "Why?"

"It's the wings," Warren replied. "I've been informed they make me 'incredibly sexy' and I even got offered a modelling contract."

Bobby promptly choked on his drink and ended up coughing and spluttering all over the place. Jubilee laughed at him.

"Yeah," Kitty said with a grin. "I noticed you got yourself a fan club."

"It's crazy."

"Did you take it?" asked Bobby

"Take what?" asked Warren.

"The modelling contract."

"Uhh no."

"Aww why not?"

"I'm not interested in modelling, that's why," Warren replied. "I have a perfectly good career in business. I'm not going to reduce myself to 'pin up model'."

"Why not?" asked Bobby. "I'd take that contract."

"You can have it," Warren said.

"You know Warren," Jubilee said, "if I didn't already know you, I'd love to have you for a pin up and plastered over my bedroom walls."

Warren gave her a disgusted look.

"Seriously," Jubilee went on, batting her eyelids. "You're a pretty boy with angel wings. You're the guy that every chick is going to get a crush on."

"Hey, what about me?" asked Bobby pathetically.

"No one's going to have a crush on Frosty the Snowman," Jubilee replied.

"Except you," Rogue said with a smirk.

"Actually," Kitty piped up before Jubilee could retort. "Maybe you should go for it."

"You have to be kidding me," Warren said.

"No seriously," Kitty said eagerly. "Jubilee does raise a valid point: you _are_ a good looking guy, Warren, and there is a big market for umm, fantastical creatures -"

"Excuse me?"

"Not that I'm saying... I mean... Okay Orlando Bloom right? He's an elf in _Lord of the Rings_. His acting skills are irrelevant; the women of the world have declared that he's hot -"

"Actually Orlando does nothing for me," Rogue mused.

"Shush you. And the end result is that he can basically have any part he wants because the producers know that he has his huge following that'll see any movie he's in just because he's in it," Kitty said. "And then there's Rob Patterson, who's Edward Cullen on _Twilight_; he gets the same treatment."

"These are not people I care to be in the same category with," Warren said.

"But you could be the poster boy for 'mutants are awesome'," Kitty insisted. "Vampires and elves and stuff, they're not real, but _you_ are. Okay so maybe you're not an angel in the Biblical sense, but that's not the point. Women go for that kind of thing -"

"And some men," Bobby put in with a grin.

Warren pulled a face and Kitty glared at Bobby.

"Not helping," Kitty said firmly.

"So basically you're sayin' that Warren could be the male Paris Hilton," Rogue said.

"No," Warren stated firmly.

"I'm not saying that at all," Kitty objected.

"Sure you are," Rogue replied. "Orlando and Rob act for a livin', but Paris doesn't need ta do any of the stuff she does. She's an heiress. She can do whatever she wants for a livin' and she decided ta play the 'attention whore' card. Same deal. Warren can do whatever he wants for a livin' too, and you're tryin' ta talk him inta playin' the 'attention whore' card as well."

"But that's not what I mean," Kitty insisted. "Look, public opinion on mutants was looking up until Overdrive reared its ugly head, and now it's plummeted down again. Everyone's focusing on all the bad things that are happening and could happen, but no one's looking at the good things or the benefits of being a mutant. Seriously, Warren, you're sexy and rich, so that's a killer combination right there, but the thing that really tops the cake for 'mutant poster boy'? Your wings. They're the classical angel wings _and_ you can fly. Seriously who wouldn't want to be able to fly? You're appealing to the dreamers right there and we've already covered the women. Flying is, ahem, harmless enough that the haters have no real grounds to complain. I mean, they can't get all paranoid about you breaching privacy or national security or whatever. And you appeal to the mutant community because you not only have a visual sign of mutation, but you'd also make an awesome symbol of hope to everyone that things can work out; we can have peace between humans and mutants."

"Yeah," Warren said dryly. "And as a symbol, I'd also make a prime target. Again. And I'm not going to be a martyr for the cause, thank you very much."

"So, hire Rogue as a bodyguard," Kitty suggested with a grin at Rogue. "She's done a pretty good job so far."

"Don't take this the wrong way, Warren," Rogue said, "but pass. When Ah envision muh future, Ah'm not playin' bodyguard."

"It would be like the movie _The Bodyguard_," Bobby said musingly. "Only gender-reversed."

"I'm sure Remy would have a few things to say about that," Warren said dryly.

"You've watched _The Bodyguard_?" Rogue asked Bobby.

"Uhh... under duress," Bobby said pointing to Jubilee.

"Don't point at me, I've never even seen it," Jubilee objected. "Okay, maybe once. Years and years ago."

"And you made me watch it with you."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Look, whatever you decide, we're there for you," Kitty said to Warren over the top of Jubilee and Bobby's latest argument. "But this isn't just going to go away. The Worthingtons have been in the spotlight ever since the Cure, and now the proof of your rumoured mutation has been splashed on the headlines all over the country, to say nothing of where it's gone online. You may as well make it work for you."

Warren let out a breath and shook his head.

"I take the point," he said finally, "but that lifestyle just isn't for me."

"But –"

"So what are you guys doing for Christmas? I'm debating whether to endure Christmas with the family this year or come here instead," Warren asked.

"Just the usual," Bobby said, "We'll have our Christmas party the night before people go home for the holidays, then lunch on Christmas Day."

"You should be with your family," Kitty said firmly. "I think things are going crappy for you, hun, but that doesn't make them any less important."

"Da," Pete agreed.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Gambit," Gambit said upon answering his business phone.

"Have yo' broken dat poor fille's heart yet?" came Jean-Luc's voice.

Gambit chuckled. Jean-Luc had been asking him that since the day he found out that he and Rogue had been dating for over three months.

"Non," Gambit replied. "Although, if you've read the news on the Worthingtons lately, she's broken mine."

"Dat was Rogue dat saved young Warren den?"

"Oui."

"Quite a stir dat's caused, no?"

"I t'ink the whole t'ing's been blown out o' proportion myself," Gambit replied. "By the way, have I ever told yo' how t'ankful I am yo' adopted moi? Seriously, when I see how some other mutants turned out, exile doesn't seem so bad."

"Well _dat's_ saying somet'ing coming from yo'," Jean-Luc replied good-naturedly. "And speaking o' which, I have... news."

"Dat sounds ominous. Good or bad?"

"Hmm, depends on your perspective. Marius died last night."

"Heart attack?"

"Oui."

"Belle okay?"

"Like Bella Donna would admit t' grieving anyone, let alone t' the T'ieves Guild."

"Point taken."

"Don't know when the funeral is just yet, but Bella Donna's likely t' be officially sworn in the day after. Den it's just a matter o' waiting fo' her t' consolidate her position and voilà! Your exile is over," Jean-Luc said and Gambit could practically hear him rubbing his hands together gleefully. "And den I can retire."

"Yo'? Retire? Ha! Like dat'll ever happen," Gambit said scornfully.

"It'll happen, mon fils," Jean-Luc insisted. "The same day Bella Donna lifts your exile, I'm retiring."

"Suuuuure."

"I'm serious. No one's going t' be waiting around fo' my death so it becomes a good t'ing/bad t'ing event," Jean-Luc said fiercely. "I'm going t' step down, hand over the reins t' Henri and den spend some long over-due quality time wit' mon autre fils."

"I look forward t' it," Gambit replied softly.

"Besides," Jean-Luc went on, "it's past time I met dis fille o' yours."

Gambit chuckled.

* * *

It had taken him a few weeks, but Gambit finally figured out the best way and time to get into Purifiers missile manufacturing plant. The first step was to have Psylocke teleport herself into storage and tag one of the missiles due to leave on the next shipment with a tracking device. Gambit kept an eye on it, but once it reached the place on the map where the empty warehouse in Tennessee was, they lost the signal. They'd debated waiting until the next shipment before going onto the next step, but decided they should proceed after all.

A few days after the shipment left, before they could make too many more missiles and a resupply of the explosives could arrive, Gambit donned one of the Purifier uniforms and invited himself inside. He bypassed security at the gate, and once inside the building started going around with a clipboard and a pen. At first the rest of the group had been rather sceptical about Gambit's ability to get away with doing this unchallenged, but Gambit assured them that no one ever bothers the official-looking guy with the clipboard.

His first stop was to one of the empty offices. He plugged in a drive, tricked the network into logging him in as administrator and set it up to start copying data. He'd take whatever he could get in the short window of time he would have available.

His second stop was to the store room where the missiles were kept. It was one thing to see them on security cameras, quite another to see them in real life. He did a quick survey of the room, making sure he had all the missiles accounted for and check any camera blind spots.

Gambit's third stop was to another store room on the other side of the where the explosives for the warheads were kept. He had been pleasantly surprised to find that the missiles they were making weren't very high yield (how they were planning on destroying Genosha with them, he had no idea; either Psylocke's information was wrong or there was more to their plan than met the eye). Like with the other storeroom, Gambit entered and conducted a quick survey before heading to the power station.

Estimates showed that the amount of explosives on the base wouldn't be enough to harm any civilian properties outside of the Purifier base. For the matter, the destruction Gambit had planned wouldn't completely destroy the base at all, which was why he had to target multiple locations to make sure production – at least at this location – ended.

Gambit arrived at the power station and casually made his way to the fuel supply. Just a small charge was all that was required – a small charge and a quick evacuation through the fire exit. Simultaneously, the fuel blew and the fire alarm went off. Gambit ran back to the hallway leading to the explosives storeroom. He threw a series of charged cards at the door – which broke open – and through the doorway right at the explosives. As soon as enough had gotten through for his taste, Gambit bolted once more, racing past the office with his drive – which he yanked out of the computer – and then for the final store room.

This time, instead of charged cards or a single spark, Gambit ran inside and located the most central missile, which he had identified earlier. He charged it up as high as he could without completely draining himself and ran for the door. He barely made it out of the complex before the store house and all the missiles therein exploded.

Using his staff, Gambit jumped over the fence and made a beeline for his motorcycle. In moments he was gone, the Purifier base up in flames and smoke.

* * *

"Now we just have to find the other base," said Marrow after their small celebration later.

"Yeah, about dat," Gambit said seriously. "Yo' might want t' look at getting some help, chére."

"I did," Marrow replied. "I called you."

"I'm not a one-man army, Sarah," Gambit replied. "We don't know how many missiles dey have, nor do we know anyt'ing about how dey plan on delivering dem. Dis is too big fo' just us."

"Didn't you call Genosha?" Erg asked. "It's their country."

"Oui, I did," Gambit said as he began packing up. "But it would bear more weight coming from the X-men, dan it would coming from moi as an individual. I don't carry dat much weight wit' the Genoshan government."

"We're not going to the X-men," Marrow practically snarled. "They're nothing but a bunch of flatscan sympathisers."

"I'm not asking yo' t'," Gambit replied calmly. "I'm going t' be going back t' New York fo' Christmas and come back after the New Year."

"You're leaving?" Marrow exclaimed. "But we still need to –"

"Told yo'," Gambit said firmly. "We need more help, and more t' the point, more resources. Not t' mention we need t' find the second base in the first place. We've stopped their missile manufacturing – assuming dis is the only place they're been manufacturing them. I'm taking a break. You're welcome t' join me. Christmas in a mansion might be a nice change of scenery from sewers and abandoned buildings, no?"

"It's not the location. It's the company," Marrow replied hotly.

"I'd like to go," said Psylocke. "If you're extending the invitation to me as well, that is."

Despite the fact that Psylocke was the last person he wanted to spend Christmas with, Gambit replied with a cheerful "O' course, chére. Wouldn't want t' leave any o' yo' behind."

"You _want_ to go?" Marrow demanded. "Why?"

"Curiosity," Psylocke replied. "And any excuse to get out of this hole for awhile."

"You could always go back to England," Marrow said sharply. "No one's making you stay here, you know."

"No one's making you stay here either, love," Psylocke replied lazily. "Except maybe you. So, Erg? You up for scamming Christmas dinner off the X-men?"

"Well, when you put it that way," Erg replied with a smirk. "Count me in. What about Anole?"

"Can't leave him behind," Gambit replied. "So, Sarah? Yo' in? Or are yo' going t' be spending Christmas alone dis year?"

Marrow looked at Gambit for a long, silent moment.

"Come on," Psylocke said coaxingly. "You know you're just dying to meet this girlfriend of his."

Marrow looked at Psylocke and then back at Gambit, Erg hid his laugh behind his hand.

"I hate you," Marrow said finally.

"Aww chére," Gambit replied mildly. "We both know dat's a lie."

* * *

Gambit called ahead to let Xaviers know to expect company, and two days later their van pulled up at the gates. Gambit leaned out the driver's window to plug in the code to get in and they headed down the driveway to garage.

Rogue looked up as the garage door opened and the van with the motorcycle trailer entered. She grinned and began wiping her hands when she realised that it was Gambit in the front seat and waved as he drove past into a parking space. She threw the rag down as Gambit stepped out of the van into view and then practically pounced on him with a cry of "Remy!" She wrapped her arms about his neck and her legs around his waist.

"Aww, chére," Gambit replied as he slid his hands down her legs to her behind. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you missed me."

"Nah," Rogue replied. "Not at all."

"Well," said Psylocke with a wry grin as Rogue and Gambit kissed. "I'm guessing that's the girlfriend."

"No? Really?" asked Erg. "What gave it away?"

Eventually the reunited couple pulled away and Rogue floated back down to the floor.

"Roguey," Gambit said, "dese are mes amis; Marrow, Erg, Psylocke and the grumpy one is Anole."

"I'm not grumpy," Anole insisted grumpily, his arms crossed firmly over his chest.

"He's just sore 'cause he can't get any more Overdrive," Gambit said. "Everyone, dis is Rogue."

"Nice ta meetchas," said Rogue as she tried to ignore Marrow's critical gaze. "We've got rooms made up for you guys. Ah can take ya'll there now, if you'd like."

"That would be great, love," Psylocke replied. "Oh, and you can call me Betsy."

"Okay, Betsy," Rogue said with a grin. "Ah'm just Rogue."

"You're never 'just' anyt'ing, chére," Gambit said.

"Charmer."

Psylocke laughed. Rogue picked up the rag while the group got their things, such as they were, and wiped more of the grease off her fingers. When they were ready, she set the rag aside once more and led them into the mansion.

"Things are a little quieter than usual," Rogue said. "And at the same time, noisier. Anyone who can has gone home for the holidays and as school's not runnin' right now, everyone who is still here's doing their own thing."

"Sure is a nice place," said Psylocke.

"School, interesting," said Marrow. "Are you a teacher or a student?"

Erg snickered and Rogue rolled her eyes.

"Sarah t'inks dat more dan five years difference is 'creepy'," Gambit said with a smirk.

"Ah'm a teacher," Rogue said tersely. "Ah'm twenty, and if ya'll have any problems with the age difference, get it off your chest now, or keep your comments to yourself."

Gambit chuckled when he heard Rogue mutter something under her breath about "Kitty all over again".

"Twenty," Marrow repeated. "Hell, Remy. She's younger than me, and we met when I was eight. My family was being murdered and your _girl_friend was still running around in diapers."

"Damn Sarah," said Gambit. "Stop trying t' make me feel old."

"You _are_ old," Marrow retorted.

"Yeah? I wonder if you'll still t'ink dat in twelve years time when _you're_ thirty-seven."

Psylocke laughed.

"Well I say; Go Remy," said Erg.

"Merci, Erg," Game replied.

"Seventeen years isn't that bad of an age difference," said Psylocke. "Now, forty years age difference, _that's_ creepy. I don't know if they really loved each other or if she was just a gold digger, but they looked more like grandfather and granddaughter than husband and wife. But they seemed happy with each other, and that's the important thing, right?"

"Right," Rogue agreed as she led them down the hall to the guest rooms. "All right, these two rooms here and those two next to them are yours. They're all pretty much the same. Ah have ta get back ta work, but Ah'm sure can show ya'll around."

"Aww, you're not leaving me again so soon, are yo'?" Gambit asked, sticking out his bottom lip.

"Ah haveta finish Bobby's car," Rogue replied, "or he's never going ta get home in time for Christmas."

"Ahh, the Icecube has decided t' try and fix t'ings wit' his folks, den?"

"Yeah."

"I'm surprised he's not sticking around t' spend some time wit' the Firecracker."

"Actually Jubes and Logan have taken off."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah," Rogue said with a nod. "Logan's really taken Jubes under his wing since you've been gone. They'll be back in time for Christmas day."

"Hmm," Gambit considered, "Do yo' t'ink we can freak Kitty out by making insinuations about Jubilee and Logan?"

* * *

"So, _officially_, I haven't told yo' anyt'ing," Gambit said later that evening. "Sarah would probably kill me if she thought I told yo' 'flatscan sympathisers' what was going on."

He was in a meeting with the Professor, Storm, Kurt and Hank. Rogue was switching between keeping an eye on their guests and the students who remained at the school.

"Is young Sarah of the opinion that we would condone what the Purifiers are planning?" Hank asked with a frown.

Gambit shrugged.

"I think she just doesn't trust anyone, period. She probably doesn't even trust Erg, and she's known him the longest. Dey've had it rough and I've done what I can fo' dem over the years but," Gambit stopped and shrugged. "Well, Sarah. Erg and Anole have had it rough. Don't know about Psylocke; she's new. Joined 'em after Alcatraz, but dat's all I really know. My point is, I'd really like t' be able t' get dem out o' the sewer once and fo' all."

"Of course," said the Professor. "If we can at all persuade them to stay, we shall, but at the end of the day it's their decision."

"I know."

* * *

Rogue snuggled up to Gambit in bed that night, her head rested in the crook of his arm and her hand on his chest. She sighed happily.

"Missed you," she said.

Gambit kissed her forehead.

"Miss yo' too," he replied. "And I missed dis bed."

Rogue giggled.

"Way, way better dan dat excuse fo' a mattress I'd been sleeping on recently," he went on. "Smells better too. It smelled like faeces and mildew. Definitely not the smell yo' want t' go t' sleep on."

"I can agree ta that," Rogue said, turning up her nose at the thought.

"Dis bed smells o' clean," Gambit said. "Better yet, it smells o' Roguey."

Rogue laughed.

"Ah always thought it smelled of Remy," she teased him. "By the way, Ah used your pillow while you were gone."

"Hmm, so dat explains why it smells so good."

* * *

Gambit and Rogue arrived in the dining hall for breakfast the next It was only half full, but they figured that the current population of Xaviers was in there. Psylocke, Marrow, Anole and Erg were seated at a six-seater table. Gambit was quick to take the seat next to Erg while Rogue sat on the spare chair by Psylocke more sedately with her plate of food, a little curious at Gambit's rush.

"And how is everyone dis morning?" asked Gambit.

"Just peachy," Marrow replied dryly. "You speak to Genosha yet?"

"Oui, last night. Dey need t' confer and dey'll get back t' us," Gambit replied. "So what shall we do today?"

"Something," Storm said, approaching Gambit from behind, "that won't prevent you from cooking dinner tonight."

"Dinner? Moi?" Gambit asked, twisting around to look back at her.

"I took the liberty of making some changes to the roster yesterday," Storm replied with a slight smile.

Gambit sighed. "I suppose dis means dat you've put me on Christmas Day lunch too?"

"Of course."

Gambit gestured to those at the table with him. "I have guests, Stormy."

"And I'm sure your guests would appreciate your cooking as much as the rest of us do," Storm replied smugly.

* * *

During the course of the day, Gambit kept the four occupied doing things that wouldn't terrify the younger students or destroy the house. Mid-afternoon, Gambit decided that they didn't have the ingredients for what he wanted to cook for dinner, let alone Christmas Day, so he took off down town to get supplies before he had to start cooking. He left his charges in Rogue's hands.

Rogue had spent the day monitoring the danger room (when she hadn't been using it herself). It had been far too cold to go out (she thought Gambit was nuts for going out when he didn't really need to) and a lot of Xavier's residents had decided that the danger room was an appropriate place to play. Given some of their games of choice, this was probably true. Nevertheless, when Marrow, Erg, Anole and Psylocke were left in Rogue's hands, she informed the students that they had monopolised the danger room quite enough for one day and it was now their guests turn.

"This is your training facility?" Erg asked as he looked around at the demo simulation. "Very cool."

"Whatever," Marrow dismissed.

"So, how does this thing work then?" asked Psylocke.

"We have all sorts of simulations in the computer," Rogue replied. "Battle and tactical, recreational, general power training. Remy's got some, ahem, stealth training sims."

"In other words, thief training," Marrow said.

"Pretty much," Rogue said. "The personal favourite rec sim is our Pirate one."

"Pirates, huh?" Psylocke asked with a laugh.

"Yep," Rogue replied proudly. "We even programmed in Captain Sparrow."

"Oh, I love it," Psylocke said. "Let's run that one."

"Aye matey," Rogue said. "Computer: stop simulation and run 'Pirates'."

The landscape vanished and was just as swiftly replaced by a pirate ship in the middle of the ocean. The five found themselves on deck.

"Arr," said Rogue and gestured to a table on the deck. "Now this be our weapons cache. Pick your weapons, and when everyone's done the table will go. We can bring it back if ye be changing your mind. The next question be, what ye be wanting to do as pirates? Fight other pirates? Board merchant vessels? Go looking for buried treasure?"

"Merchant vessels," Erg said gleefully as he picked up a sword. "Hey Betsy, fancy using a holographic sword instead of a psionic one?"

"Now that would be a novel experience," Psylocke replied.

"Psionic?" Rogue asked.

Psylocke nodded and mentally created a katana that glowed purple.

"A mix of telepathic and telekinetic energy," Psylocke explained. "It can slice through anything I want it to and disrupt neural pathways."

Psylocke let the katana dissolve and then selected a holographic katana and dagger from the table.

"This is stupid," Anole muttered, his arms folded across his chest.

The look on Marrow's face clearly said that she would rather be doing things other than 'playing pirate' but in response to Anole's sour attitude she thrust a scimitar at him.

"You would be the authority on stupid then, wouldn't you?" she said scathingly.

Anole pulled a face, but Marrow didn't see it as she immediately turned her back on him and picked out a weapon for herself.

"You're telekinetic?" Rogue asked Psylocke.

"That's right," Psylocke replied.

"Ah assume Remy knows?" Rogue asked as she picked up her usual choice.

"Of course."

Rogue nodded and Psylocke looked at her curiously.

"Am I missing something?" Psylocke asked, and then added after Rogue's hesitation: "Does this have anything to do with why he keeps his distance from me?"

"He keeps his distance from _you_?" Marrow asked with obvious scepticism.

"You haven't noticed?" Psylocke asked, looking amused. "He avoids coming anywhere near me, never makes eye contact unless he has to and he flinches every time we get close enough to touch."

"No," Marrow replied. "I hadn't noticed. That's weird. If it weren't for girlfriend over here, I'd have expected him to be all over you."

Psylocke shrugged and looked expectantly at Rogue.

"If Remy hasn't mentioned it, then Ah probably shouldn't," Rogue said finally. "Let's just say he had a bad experience with a telekinetic not that long ago."

"Oookay then," Psylocke replied, not really satisfied with that answer, but suspecting she'd have to make do.

"What happened?" asked Erg.

"Computer;" Rogue said, deliberately ignoring the question. "Remove table and bring in random merchant vessel."

* * *

**AN:  
**

mon autre fils = my other son


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Over the days leading up to Christmas Marrow, Erg, Anole and Psylocke used the danger room just as much as any of the other residents. Well, Marrow, Erg and Psylocke did. Anole seemed to be happier sulking in the corner. Of course, knowing Anole's problem with Overdrive, there was an unspoken conspiracy to prevent him from sulking in the corner and give him something else to focus on.

On December 23, Logan and Jubilee returned.

"Hey it's about time you folks got back," Rogue informed them.

"Aww, didja miss us?" Jubilee asked.

"Nah, Ah'm just tired of doing your share of the chores," Rogue joked and Jubilee laughed.

Logan and Jubilee were introduced to Gambit's guests. Jubilee greeted them like old friends (much to Marrow's discomfort) and Logan just sniffed.

Late that evening, however, Logan decided to hit his newly resupplied hidden stash of beer. As opposed to the not so hidden liquor cupboard in the kitchen. As soon as he entered the room where his hidden stash dwelled, he knew instantly that someone was in the room. And judging from the scent it was one of Gambit's friends.

"Kid, I know you're here," Logan practically growled.

He couldn't see him, but he could definitely smell him. Logan turned until he was facing the right direction and studied the wall.

"You may as well come out," Logan said.

There was a rippling effect and abruptly two eyes looked out at him. This was followed by his body turning back to normal instead of blending into the wall. One hand was behind his back and when Anole brought it out, Logan could see there was one of his new bottles of Canadian beer in it. To say nothing of the other two recently finished bottles of beer on the ground.

"That's my beer," Logan informed him shortly.

"S-sorry," Anole replied, rubbing his hand nervously. "I was just... umm..."

"I can see what you were doing," Logan said as he opened up the mini fridge and pulled out a beer for himself. "And you're not going to do it again if you still want that hide of yours intact."

"Uhh... sorry," Anole said again. "I'll just be -"

"You been in the danger room yet, kid?"

"Uhh, yeah a few times."

"Good," Logan said in a dangerous tone that made Anole even more nervous. "Then you won't mind using it again."

Anole paused. "What? Now?"

"Yep," Logan drawled. "No one steals my beer and gets away with it. Not even the Cajun."

Which is how Anole found himself running from people with lasers, climbing up walls and jumping ditches of spikes amongst other things in the scariest obstacles course he'd ever done in his life. Come morning, Marrow had no idea about the events of the night before and was most unsympathetic when it came time to get him out of bed.

* * *

Rogue and Gambit were woken up on Christmas morning by one of Gambit's two phones. One phone was personal and the other was a secure, untraceable phone issued to him by the Thieves Guild. It was the Guild phone which stirred them from their slumber.

"Gambit," he said upon answering.

"Merry Christmas, Remy," said Jean-Luc.

"Merry Christmas, Père," Gambit replied with a stifled yawn.

"Have yo' broken dat poor fille's heart yet?"

"Non," Gambit replied. "She hasn't broken mine yet either."

"What's this 'yet' business?" Rogue asked.

Gambit chuckled. "Did yo' hear dat, Père?"

"Oui, I did," Jean-Luc replied. "Now I have a few people here dat want t' -"

"Père," Gambit said, rolling over to look at the clock, "have yo' been waking everyone up at indecent hours again?"

"It's Christmas," Jean-Luc replied plaintively as he switched the phone to speaker. "I want my presents."

"Dis is revenge fo' all the times we woke yo' up early on Christmas morning isn't it?"

"Oh I'm sure o' it, mon frère," Henri said. "And here I was t'inking dat I was done wit' early Christmas morning wake ups when Gigi grew out of it."

"No such luck? Hang on..." Gambit said and switched his own phone to speaker so that Rogue could join in. "All right, can yo' hear me?"

"Loud and clear, Remy," said Mercy.

"Roguey's here too," Gambit said.

"Hi, Merry Christmas," Rogue said.

"Merry Christmas," Henri, Mercy, Gigi and Jean-Luc all said together.

"Nice t' hear your voice again, Rogue," said Mercy. "How have yo' been?"

"Pretty good, thank you," Rogue replied. "And yourself?"

"Tres bien. I hope dat Remy's not been giving yo' too much trouble."

"Nah," Rogue replied, yawned and added with a wink at Gambit: "His father's a bit of a pest though."

Jean-Luc laughed.

"Dieu, tell me about it," said Gigi. "How's a fille supposed t' get any sleep around here?"

"Well, it helps if yo' have somewhere comfortable to lie down, like a bed -" Gambit began.

"Oh, hah hah hah," Gigi replied.

"I thought so. O' course, it also helps if yo' don't have people yapping at yo'. See, Roguey and me are in bed right now and –"

"And dat's more than we needed t' know," Mercy said firmly.

"Like we didn't already figure dat much out when he said Rogue was there too," Henri said dryly.

"Well, we used t' have separate beds," Gambit said mischievously.

"Do we _have_ t' have dis conversation?" asked Gigi. "I don't want t' picture mon oncle in bed wit' anyone, let alone a fille barely older than me."

"Let alone naked," Gambit said.

"Mon dieu," Gigi complained. "Bad images. Bad images! Get out of my head."

"Ah understand your pain," Rogue said with a giggle.

"Remy," Mercy began and then sighed. "Never mind."

Gambit chuckled.

"Oui, dis is exactly how I want t' wake up on Christmas morning," said Henri. "Père banging on the door, letting himself int' our bedroom and opening up the curtains all while singing 'All I Want Fo' Christmas is My Two Front Teeth' –"

"Dentures giving yo' trouble, Père?" Gambit asked cheekily.

"Watch your mouth, boy," Jean-Luc replied.

"- enduring Gigi's complaints about being woken up in a similar manner," Henri continued, "and den getting an update on Remy's sex life."

"Really?" asked Gambit. "Dat's how yo' enjoy getting woken up on Christmas morning? Well, it's a tough call but I'm sure we can arrange somet'ing fo' next year."

"Smart ass."

"But o' course!"

* * *

At a much more comfortable hour later that morning, everyone began arriving in dribs and drabs in the living room where the Christmas tree had been set up. Presents were handed out, wrapping paper flung everywhere, exclamations and laughter were heard from all corners of the room.

Gambit had made a point of picking up some Christmas presents for their guests, not wanting them to feel left out of the celebrations or anything.

After lunch (and a delicious one at that), Psylocke worked up the nerve to approach the Professor.

"I was wondering if you'd mind horribly if I made an overseas phone call?" she asked him. "I'd like to speak to my family in England. I swear, I won't talk long."

"No, that's fine," the Professor replied with a smile. "Talk as long as you want, within reason of course. You may use my office, if you'd like. Merry Christmas, my dear."

Psylocke smiled. "Thank you so much."

Not fifteen minutes later Gambit passed by the Professor's office. The door was open and Gambit could see Psylocke inside with her back to the door and the phone to her ear.

"Oh well, I suppose if Brian really wants to talk to me, I guess I'll let him," she said jokingly. "I love you too, Mum."

Gambit was soundless as he walked away.

* * *

Marrow started getting more and more impatient for a response from Genosha. The only reply they'd had so far was a notice that they would be putting together a team to join them. Marrow grumbled when she realised that by 'them' they meant the X-men.

"I told you I don't want to work with them!" Marrow yelled at Gambit when she found out.

"A fine t'ing t' say when you've been living at their place fo' the last week or so."

"Under protest."

"Eating their food. Using their training facilities."

"They have no stake in taking down the Purifiers," Marrow snapped. "It's not their home under fire. It's not their family they've been killing. They've thrown their lot in with flatscans more than once. I don't trust them fighting alongside me."

"It is their people, though," Gambit pointed out patiently. "And regardless, dey have no desire t' see another slaughter, mutant, human or otherwise. Besides, the Genoshans don't know _yo'_. Yo' need their endorsement. I trust dem. Won't yo' trust me?"

"A fine line coming from you," Marrow replied cryptically, but she stalked off before Gambit could question her about it.

* * *

Warren flew down to the front doors of the Xavier Institute and let himself in. He got as far as the rec room before anyone noticed his arrival.

"Hey Warren," Rogue said, waving as soon as she spotted him. "When did you get here?"

"Just then," Warren replied as he walked inside, with a glance at Marrow and Psylocke who were with her.

"Cool," Rogue said. "Oh, Warren, this is Psylocke and Marrow."

"Hey Flyboy," Psylocke replied, holding out her hand. "You can call me Betsy."

"Nice to meet you," Warren replied, shaking her hand.

"So Betsy," Marrow said maliciously. "Is this is part where you admit to throwing his father off the roof at Alcatraz?"

"That's was _you_?" Jubilee exclaimed as Warren and Psylocke froze.

"Well, me, Arclight, Quill. Seemed like a good idea at the time," Psylocke replied as Warren dropped her hand. "Heat of battle and all that."

"Your father," Marrow said scathingly, "is a filthy, disgusting flatscan, who doesn't _deserve_ to live."

"Marrow, you don't think any flatsc- humans deserve to live," Psylocke pointed out.

"Yeah, well, Worthington is one of the ones who deserves to die slowly and painfully," Marrow said. "If I ever get my hands on him, he'll wish you never rescued him, _Angel_."

Warren was silent for a good long moment, his eyes never moved from Marrow's.

"At least I know who my father is," he said finally.

"Oookay," Rogue cut in, knowing that Warren would have no idea about Marrow's history and she certainly didn't know enough about Marrow to know if her father had been one of the Morlocks or not. "Let's just leave this one alone, shall we? Ah'm sure that whatever happened at Alcatraz, Betsy no longer has any homicidal feelings towards your dad... umm... right?"

"Right," Psylocke replied quickly. "I didn't realise his son was a mutant at the time and -"

"Well what possible difference could that make?" Warren snapped.

"A lot actually," Psylocke said. "It meant that he had a personal stake in the Cure and it wasn't simply blind hatred of mutants. The fact that you were also willing to save him says a lot too. It meant that even though he was completely wrong about mutation being a disease, his heart at least was in the right place."

Marrow snorted derisively. "You're just trying to save face 'cause you've got a crush on him."

Psylocke glared at Marrow and tried to ignore the blush that filled her face. Jubilee cracked up laughing.

"See?" Jubilee said gleefully to Warren. "I _told_ you that you were the guy every girl was going to get a crush on."

* * *

After the New Year, those who went home for the holidays started returning to the school and Rogue and Gambit's had their first anniversary.

"Never know," Jubilee said to Rogue that morning. "Remy might decide to celebrate your anniversary with a proposal."

Rogue groaned.

"Getting that a lot, are you?" Psylocke asked.

"Remy took me ta France and Monte Carlo for a holiday last June, July," Rogue told her. "Ever since then Jubes has been obsessed with the idea of us gettin' married."

"Have not," Jubilee replied. "Paris is just such a romantic location. I could just picture Remy proposing there so well… and now I just keep bringing it up because it annoys the crap out of you two."

"Pest."

Psylocke laughed.

"Still," said Marrow, eyeing Rogue thoughtfully. "Remy dating the one girl for a whole year. I think that says something."

"He's in looooooove," Jubilee said gleefully, clasping her hands together.

"Shut up, Jubes," Rogue said.

"But he is," Jubilee insisted. "You're in love too."

"That doesn't mean I would necessarily say 'yes' even if he did propose today. Ah'm in no rush ta get married," Rogue said, shaking her head. "Marriage is serious business and too many people these days are gettin' married on a whim, or go into it thinkin' that divorce is an option if things don't work out. Ah happen ta believe that unless you're prepared ta keep your weddin' vows no matter how hard things get, then ya shouldn't be makin' them in the first place. They're _vows;_ they're not supposed to be broken. Ah have no interest in gettin' married unless Ah'm sure Ah'm ready for the responsibility, and Ah sure as hell don't want Remy proposin' if he's not sure."

"Hear, hear," said Psylocke.

Little did Rogue know about the conversation Gambit had a few hours later with Jean-Luc:

"Have yo' broken dat poor fille's heart yet?"

"Non, Père," Gambit replied tolerantly.

"Hmph. How long has it been now?" Jean-Luc asked.

"A year today," Gambit said, knowing full well that Jean-Luc had probably marked the day in his calendar, just so he could make a point of ringing him today.

"A year already, imagine dat," Jean-Luc replied. "So when's the proposal happening?"

"Mon dieu, don't yo' start," Gambit said irritably. "I get enough o' dat from the Firecracker."

"You're not getting any younger, and neither am I for dat matter," Jean-Luc said. "I'd like some time t' play wit' my grandchildren."

"Yo' have a grandchild: Gigi."

"I said 'grandchildren' plural. And since Henri's only given me one, I want another one from yo'."

"Père -"

"Besides, yo' wait much longer, you're not going t' have the energy t' keep up wit' dem," Jean-Luc went on merrily. "I don't care how much stamina yo' t'ink yo' have, mon fils, children always have more."

"Père -"

"You're probably pushing it now."

"Père -"

"How old's Rogue? Twenty? She's not going t' wait forever, Remy," Jean-Luc went on, thoroughly enjoying getting on his son's nerves. "And these are her best child-bearing years –"

"Jean-Luc!" Gambit exclaimed.

His father laughed.

"I'll propose if and when I'm good and ready, and not before," Gambit said firmly. "And should we ever get married and decide t' have kids, it'll be on our timetable, not yours."

Jean-Luc just laughed some more.

"Now, is dere a reason fo' dis call?" Gambit asked. "Or were yo' just calling t' annoy me?"

"Calling t' annoy yo' _is_ a reason t' call, Remy," Jean-Luc replied. "And a good one, if yo' ask moi. But no, I called t' congratulate yo' on lasting dis long wit' the one femme, and do pass on my congratulations t' Rogue also."

* * *

The next day, the team from Genosha finally arrived along with the last of the X-men. There was quite a gathering on the hanger floor as the ramp lowered and the Genoshan team exited their jet. First out the door was Pyro.

"Hey!" Rogue exclaimed. "Long time no see!"

"Hey!" Pyro replied. "You have hair!"

"Shut up, flame-boy."

"You look cute with short hair," Pyro said. "Much better than being bald."

Close behind Pyro was a young man who's statue and set of his jaw bore an uncanny resemblance to Scott.

"Hi Havok," said Bobby. "How's Lorna?"

"She's good," Havok replied.

He was followed by another young man who was almost a splitting image of Magneto.

"Hi Pietro," Jubilee said, waving at him.

"Hi, niceta see yas again," Pietro said, zipping up to all those who had visited Genosha before during the liberation and giving them hurried shakes of the hand.

Pietro was followed by a young woman with a black spot over her eye.

"Guys, this is Domino," said Pyro.

"Hey," Domino said in greeting.

The fifth and final member of the team stepped out of the door and Marrow, Erg and Anole stared in astonishment.

"Skids!" Marrow exclaimed. "You've been hiding out in Genosha all this time?"

Skids gave a cheeky two-fingered salute.

"Hey guys," she said. "Long time no see. I see you've moved up from the sewer."

"It's only temporary," Marrow replied stiffly.

"Shame. Erg, Anole. Hi Remy."

"Bonjour petite," Gambit replied. "How's life been treating yo'?"

"Much better these days," Skids replied cheerfully, trotting over to give her old friend a hug. "But boy, was I surprised to hear you were with the X-men."

"I found a reason t' hang around," Gambit said, smiling at Rogue.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"All right," said Gambit as the teams gathered later that day in the war room. "Bad news first; I've been looking through the data I managed t' collect from the Purifier's base. Unfortunately, none of it gives me an address fo' their second base or wherever it is that they've been working on the delivery system or storing the missiles dey've been making. Anyone who wants t' can double-check me if they like, but it may not be necessary, on account o' the good news."

"Which is?" asked Skids.

"I've got a signal from the tracking device Betsy put on the last shipment o' missiles," Gambit said smugly as he tapped away at the computer so that everyone could see for themselves.

"What? When did this happen?" Marrow demanded. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I'm telling yo' now, aren't I?"

"Florida Keys?" Bobby said. "The Purifiers are hanging out in the Florida Keys?"

"Well it makes a certain amount of sense," said Pietro. "It's about as close to Genosha as you're going to get from the States if you're travelling in a straight line."

"I think you both raise good points," said Jubilee. "Why isn't our base in Florida? And I'm not just asking that 'cause I'm sick of snow, either."

"Ahem," said Storm. "I assume you've been able to pin-point the exact island, Remy?"

"Oui," Gambit replied. "The other good news is dat it's tourist season in Florida right now –"

"Wouldn't summer be the tourist season?" asked Psylocke.

"It is, but their major one is during winter, where it's still warm and cosy, Tropical climate and all dat," Gambit replied.

"Makes sense," she conceded. "So we go in pretending to be tourists?"

"All right!" Bobby cheered.

"We won't be tourists," Storm said firmly.

"But we will have to pretend to be tourists in order to fit in," Jubilee said cheerfully.

"It does work well in our favour, though. I bet dat the Purifiers are used t' tourists dropping by their island. We could probably get by wit' doing all the snooping we want – initially anyway – wit'out getting caught," Gambit said smugly. "We should go in smaller groups and avoid being seen wit' each other, dat way if one group gets caught, we won't all get caught, and backup is still available."

"What teams? Brotherhood, X-men, and umm..." Domino looked at Marrow, "what do you call yourselves?"

"Gene Nation," Marrow replied.

"That might be best," said Rogue. "That way we're not going in cold with people we don't know."

"I'll go in with Gene Nation," Gambit said. "Anole should stay here, though."

"Got that right, bub," Logan said. "Storm, you've got –"

"No," said Storm. "If we all go, there will be no one to look after the students. I will stay."

"As will I," the Professor said.

"I will go if you particularly want me to," said Hank, "but I have some projects of which I would prefer not to abandon at this juncture."

"All right then," said Logan. "Rogue, Jubilee, Bobby, you'll be with me. Kitty and Pete, you'll be our fourth."

"What?" Kitty asked. "Just the two of us?"

"Don't think you can handle it, half-pint? I can always make Rogue and Bobby the 'young lovers'."

"You can handle it," Rogue said firmly.

"I didn't say we couldn't," Kitty replied. "I was just surprised."

"Why do you even need 'young lovers'?" Marrow asked scornfully.

"Variety," Logan replied. "Decrease the likelihood of us being connected with each other."

"Makes sense to me," said Skids, looking at Marrow.

Marrow just stared at her.

* * *

A few weeks later, after further developing their plans and organising accommodation for their stay, the teams finally moved out. While each team did their initial investigation of the island, the rest of the groups focused on playing their roles as tourists. The only ones who seemed to have problems with this concept were Logan (who ended up being ganged up on by the rest of his team) and Marrow. The only communication done between teams was over the internet at pre-arranged times, otherwise phone numbers had been exchanged in case of emergency.

The first team to investigate the Purifier's island was the Brotherhood. They were actually able to do a good deal of reconnaissance; there were no significant fences around the few buildings on the island, and the way those buildings were built implied lower levels. No one stopped them or told them to leave, nor did they try to enter any of those buildings.

A couple of days later, Gene Nation had their go. They confirmed what the Brotherhood had found and were also able to identify a number of security systems, including a psionic dampener in place.

When Kitty and Piotr did their investigation, they were lucky enough to spot the arrival of a seaplane. They did try to get closer, but were intercepted by a couple of guys wearing Purifier bands informing them that they were trespassing. They left soon after that.

Finally the four X-men made their surveillance, but they went about it slightly differently. Before they even reached the island, Rogue took off in flight for an aerial reconnaissance and Bobby took to the water. In his ice form it was quite easy for him to blend in with the water, and by icing the water around him and drawing it into him, he could breathe without having to surface if it came to it. This led to Jubilee calling him "Icefish". Logan and Jubilee went to the island together. Rogue teased them about being 'young lovers'.

Regardless, their investigations gained a good deal of additional information. Rogue was able to identify the above-land layout of the base, as well as an interesting clearing that reminded her of the basketball court back at Xaviers – although she couldn't be entirely certain that wasn't just wishful thinking. She also spotted a satellite in play, something she knew Gambit would be interested in. Bobby located the cove where the seaplane would have landed and found a neat, natural harbour under a cliff face, as well as an additional entrance into the base. Logan's feral instincts were also able to add some additional details to what the other teams had already determined.

That evening, they shared their findings with the group. It was decided that they would each take a couple of days to think about things and then confer about how to go about further investigations. Discreet inquiries with the locals revealed very little, which was frustrating to Psylocke, who would have loved to get a Purifier off base for mind-reading purposes.

* * *

Rogue lay back in her bed that night and sighed. It had been hard being separated from Gambit while he'd been with Marrow and the others initially and it felt like they hadn't been reunited very long before they'd been separated again. She wished he hadn't been so quick to join the Gene Nation team, although she understood why he had.

Rogue had never truly appreciated the phrase "absence makes the heart grown fonder" until now.

While Rogue was lying in her bed, Gambit was in his, in the room he was sharing with Erg. Only difference was that Rogue was safe. Gambit, on the other hand, never noticed the canister of sleeping gas that entered the room, nor was he aware of the men that carried himself and Erg out.

* * *

Gambit awoke hours later, strapped down to a table wearing nothing but the pair of boxers with a picture of a couple of playing cards on them that he had been wearing when he went to bed the night before. Naturally adverse to being strapped down at all, the first thing Gambit did was charge up thin lines across the straps binding his arms, legs, torso and hips to the table and let them blow. The leather sufficiently loosened, it was no problem to simply sit up.

He was in a lab, Gambit observed with bitter and sick resentment. There were three more tables by him with Erg, Marrow and Psylocke bound. Marrow and Psylocke were already awake and Marrow was attempting to grow a bone knife out of her wrist so she could cut the bindings. They were all in their sleepwear too: Marrow and Erg both in ratty pajamas and Psylocke in a fairly sexy night gown.

"Need a hand?" Gambit asked as he pushed off the table.

"Oh good, you're awake," said Psylocke. "I was beginning to worry someone would come in before Sarah could get free."

"Psionic dampener?" Gambit inquired as she began charging up the restraints.

"Yes. We must be on the Purifier base," Psylocke replied.

Erg gave a yelp as he was startled into wakefulness by his restraints exploding.

"Really?" Marrow said scornfully. "You figured that out all by yourself?"

"This is no time for your attitude, Sarah," Psylocke said primly. "We've been made. We need to get out of here and advise the others."

"Thank you Captain Obvious," Marrow retorted while Gambit freed her.

"You're welcome Sargent Sarcasm."

"Check the door for us, would yo' Erg?" said Gambit before the girls argument could go any further.

"Right," Erg replied as he pushed off the table.

Gambit charged up Psylocke's restrained and blew her free.

"Can't see anyone in the hall," Erg reported. "What's the plan? We're just going to walk out?"

Gambit looked over the room and finally shrugged. "Looks like that might be the best way out of this room. Betsy, if we run int' strife, teleport and tell the others."

"Will do," Psylocke replied.

The handle of the door was locked, but just because he was without his lock picks didn't mean much to Gambit, who could just blow up the lock instead as a good Plan B. The four walked out into the hallway and picked a direction, having no real idea of which way they should go. Gambit was just relieved to be out of the lab.

They heard the footsteps and Gambit immediately tried the nearest door. It was open and the group let themselves inside. Gambit stood guard, even going so far as to shove a chair under the handle. Psylocke and Erg checked that there was no one else in there. Marrow took Gambit's hands in hers.

"You might want these," she said quietly.

Before Gambit had a chance to question, a pile of small, flat pieces of bone, about the same size and thickness of guitar picks fell into each of his hands. He saw Marrow's face screw up in an obvious attempt to hide how much the process hurt her. He nodded and kissed her forehead.

"Merci," he said softly.

They all stopped then as the door handle rattled. Gambit waved at everyone to find cover. The chair wasn't exactly the best height for shoving under the door handle – it was a little bit too tall and the angle it was at was too low. Gambit waited until the rattling stopped, then quickly pulled the chair away, slipped under the nearby desk and pulled the chair in front of him. It was just in time, as at that moment the door burst open and a pair of Purifiers came in.

Gambit frowned. The two did a cursory look around and then dropped a canister. The walked out again, shutting the door behind them. He swore as the canister started emitting gas and headed for the nearest wall. As quickly as he could, he traced a circle in the wall, charging it up, and letting it blow a hole into the next room.

"Hurry," he urged them.

Coughing and spluttering, the four managed to make it through the hole, only to be confronted by Purifiers on the other side, wearing gas masks. He charged up the bones Marrow gave him and let them fly the same time that Marrow let loose a flurry of much larger bones from her body and Erg lifted his eye patch, letting a stream of electricity arc across the room.

Psylocke faded into the nearest shadow and burst in from behind. The psionic dampener may have made it impossible for her to use her psionic blades, but she still had ninjutsu training at her disposal. She was more than fast enough to evade friendly fire.

Another gas canister was set off, even as Gambit ran out of bones and began on hand to hand.

"Betsy!" Gambit called as he coughed and spluttered from the gas. "Get out!"

Psylocke stepped into the nearest shadow. As she began to fade, however, another canister went off virtually in her face and she inhaled a lung full with no chance of evading it. She fought to stay awake – it wouldn't do to slip into unconsciousness mid teleport – and finally, sluggishly, appeared in Rogue and Jubilee's hotel room.

It wasn't until Rogue and Jubilee returned from breakfast with Logan and Bobby that they found Psylocke, lying unconscious in the shadow between Rogue's bed and the wall.

"What in the..." Rogue began, spotting something in the corner of her eye. "Betsy!"

"What?" Jubilee asked, and then peered over to where Rogue had raced to Psylocke's side. "She all right?"

Instead of testing for a pulse, Rogue cheated and turned her power on instead. She held her hand about a centimetre away from her skin and felt the crackle of life force before shutting it off again.

"She's alive and breathing," Rogue confirmed. "Go get Logan and Bobby. Ah'm gonna call Remy."

"Okay," Jubilee agreed.

She grabbed the door key and departed as Rogue picked out her mobile phone. When the phone rang went to voicemail, Rogue hung up without leaving a message and a sick feeling knotted in her stomach.

"Betsy?" Rogue said as she shook her gently. "Wakey, wakey. Betsy, wake up! C'mon, please wake up?"

Psylocke didn't respond and Jubilee re-entered with Logan and Bobby.

"She's been gassed," Logan said after only a glance. "In the face, and sleeping gas or I miss my guess. You'd better absorb her and find out what she knows. No telling when she'll wake up and time might be important."

"Right," Rogue agreed.

She placed her hand on Psylocke's forehead and turned on her powers.

.

_She screamed, pouring all her rage and anguish into her cry. She placed her hands on the table and pushed everything off and yelled again. The sound of heavy footsteps running came towards her and the door was flung open._

_"Betsy?" said Brian. "Betsy, are you all right?"_

_"No," she replied in a voice wrought with pain. "No I'm not! _Thomas _ just _ dropped _me."_

_"Tom? Your agent?" Brian asked, sounding puzzled. "Why would get do that?"_

_"You remember Prague?" she said tightly. "When I collapsed and then when I recovered, everyone else collapsed?"_

_"Yes..."_

_"Well, all the wrong people figured out I was a mutant. They've effectively blacklisted me from modelling again."_

_"Oh, Betsy –"_

_"Some of them even blame me for what happened!"_

_"That's ridiculous! It was universal. There was no way that was your fault."_

_She finally turned and met her twin bother in the eye._

_"Tell that to the people who just ended my career."_

_._

_Someone was intruding on her mind. She could feel it. There was a presence and a horrible wrenching, pulling feeling that came with it, like she was being dragged out of her own body._

_"Now my dear, this will go a lot easier if you don't fight me."_

_"Get out of my head!"_

_"Silence child. Silence, and sleep."_

_._

_"No!" she said as she banged on the window, watching as the previously brain-dead Kwannon walked away with her husband. "That's my body! Give me back my body!"_

_"Do sit down, Elizabeth," said the other passenger in the car in her accented English, "before you damage your new hands."_

.

_She rolled her eyes as the speaker at the rally rambled on about putting a committee together and talking to the Government. Right. Like that would accomplish anything._

_"People listen," he said. "They won't take us seriously -"_

_"They want to exterminate us," she said, loudly enough for everyone to hear._

_"This Cure is voluntary," the speaker said and she couldn't believe his naivety, "nobody's talking about extermination."_

_"No one ever talks about it," and she turned to see an older gentleman in a cape standing up at the back. "They just do it."_

.

_"Betsy!" Gambit called, his voice barely audible through the gas taking it effect on him. "Get out!"_

_She evaded one Purifier to step into the nearest shadow and tuned into the shadow world. She located a shadow in Rogue's room._

_Abruptly there was a hiss as a burst of gas went off in her face. She had no choice but to breathe it in even as she committed to the teleport._

_"Must stay awake... must... stay... awake..."_

.

Rogue gasped for air as she let go.

"Rogue? Rogue?" Jubilee asked anxiously.

"Ah'm fine, Ah'm fine," Rogue replied as she shook off the dizziness. "Must have picked up some of the effects of the sleeping gas. Whoa. Okay. The Purifiers took the Gene Nation team from their hotel rooms last night. They woke up from the lab and were trying to escape when the Purifiers jumped them. Betsy has no idea why they're even still alive – Purifiers kill mutants, they don't take them prisoner. She also thinks they must have been spying on them the whole time, because they came down on them again pretty quickly after they left the lab, and they knew where to look for them."

"All right," Logan said. "We'll call the others and go after them. Everyone get ready."

"What about Betsy?" asked Rogue.

"Get her into bed and leave her a note. No telling how long it's going to take to sleep it off. She can teleport; she can join us when she wakes up if she's up to it."


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Gambit groaned and slowly came to. The first thing he noticed was that he was bound in an upright position by his arm and legs to a flat surface behind him. The second thing he noticed was that he was in some sort of alcove. The walls were dark grey, panelled horizontally, and seemed to continued behind him as well, although he couldn't confirm that. Through the circular opening in front of him he could just see a short set of stairs headed down. There appeared to be a single, large round door hanging off the left side.

On a platform on the other side of the stairs, he could see Marrow and Erg now dressed in Purifier uniforms without the rank bands. Marrow's already had holes it in from her uncontrolled bone growth. It was then that Gambit realised that he was also dressed. Marrow and Erg were also bound upright. A spherical object with flashing lights sat on a table between them. To the right there were a couple of men by a console.

Gambit turned his head to appraise what was binding his left wrist. At first he was confused, but then his confusion turned to horror as his mind comprehended what he was seeing. There was a metal band around his wrist which was firmly attached to the metal, vertical panel behind him. They hadn't bothered with a lock: they'd just soldered him into place. He turned his head to the other side, and then checked his feet.

He swallowed hard and reminded himself that a lock wouldn't really help him without his lockpicks anyway. Clearly the only course of action was to charge up the bands and...

His powers were gone.

He couldn't charge it.

He couldn't escape.

No! No, no, no, no, no, no, no! Gambit swallowed again, and then again. He felt like he was going to be sick. He couldn't escape. He was stuck in this place with no way to free himself. It was Stryker, Sinister and Jessica all over again.

Helplessly, unmindful of any injury he might cause himself, Gambit began tugging at the restraints, knowing all the while it was useless. He pulled and pulled and tried to fit his hand through, but all to no avail.

"Ahh," said one of the Purifiers. "So, you're awake."

Gambit looked at him, knowing there was a wild expression on his face. He kept his mouth firmly shut though. He didn't trust his voice not to give his rising panic away.

"Hmm," said the other Purifier. "Then the other two should wake soon."

"You've probably noticed your powers don't work," said the first. "We have a dampening field in place. Don't worry... we'll turn it off soon enough."

Gambit didn't like his tone of voice. He especially didn't like the chuckle that came from the lips of the second. The second took Marrow's chin and held up her head.

"Ahh, you _are_ awake," he said, sounding pleased. "Then your friend will be up also... ahh yes, trying to play doggo? How quaint."

"What do you want with us, flatscan?" Marrow demanded.

"As far and you and your eyepatch wearing boy here," the second Purifier said, smirking at Erg, "are concerned; death. We just thought you might like to see your friend off."

"Yes," said the first as he continued his work at the console. "After all, even with our advances in technology, it's still a long way to Genosha. I'm sure that when he explodes over the capital city he wants to remember you two as you were when last he saw you: with your blood spilled on the ground."

"Trust me," said Erg. "If anyone's blood's gonna be spilled, it's gonna be yours."

Marrow was about to add her own two cents when she realise something: although she couldn't grow any more bones, the bone she'd start growing earlier to cut through the leather straps was still in her arm _and_ it was in perfect range of the straps now binding her. Slowly, so not to attract attention, she began working away at the strap.

"I have to say," mused the second, "these power dampeners are very useful. It's just a shame they have such a small range."

"Yes, the psionic dampeners have a far better range," the first agreed. "And it's most ... _convenient _that the power dampeners can be reversed."

"Indeed," said the second with a broad smirk at Gambit. "We were most impressed with what security footage we collected from your little attack on our base in Illinois. Whatever it was that you did with those missiles, you increased their explosive power at least ten fold. Good thing our little delivery system is chock-full of missiles, just waiting for you to use your demon-spawn abilities on them. The power _amplifier_ will take care of that."

"I wonder if the amplifier will also increase the explosive potential?"

"Mon dieu," Gambit said, his eyes wide with sick horror, "you're going t' use moi t' wipe out Hammer Bay."

"And here we were thinking it would be years before we could accomplish that," the second said smugly. "I hope the satellite in orbit gets good photos."

"And we're just about ready," said the first Purifier.

Marrow finally got through the strap. She grabbed the spherical thing on the table - which was just within range - and hurled it at the second Purifier, who was closest. Marrow found her powers were working again as the sensitive device broke against the Purifier's head.

So that was what the dampener looked like. How convenient.

* * *

The Brotherhood entered the Purifier base over land. Instead of holiday attire, they were in their uniforms, so it was little surprise that a small force greeted them on arrival. The Brotherhood were momentarily taken by surprise as the Purifiers turned out to be much better fighters than they had anticipated. Even after Quicksilver relieved them of their weapons, they still proved to be rather good at hand to hand, powers or no.

Skids' personal forcefield protected her from harm when three Purifiers were on her. Their attacks all 'skidded' off her shield, while she had little problem making them pay for their trouble. Domino took out the stragglers with uncanny accuracy. Havok blew Purifiers away with concussive blasts left right and centre. Pyro cackled as creatures of flame ensured not one Purifier could lay a hand on him without getting burned.

Together they fought their way into the base.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the island, Rogue flew into the sea entrance with Wolverine and Jubilee as passengers. Iceman was ice-sliding to the same locale with Shadowcat and Colossus. They arrived one after the other and Wolverine made short work of the door. The X-men were also in uniform, and both teams were also equipped with gas masks just in case.

There was a delay before they encountered any Purifiers. Jubilee blinded those attackers and Iceman made things slippery for them in between blows in the corridor. Rogue, Wolverine and Colossus generally kicked butt.

When this first battle completed, Rogue took a deep breath and then absorbed the nearest Purifier. She found it distasteful to end up with any anti-mutant psyches in her head, but the need to find Gambit, Marrow and Erg outweighed her reluctance.

"Oh crap," Rogue said as soon as she broke contact, and then continued, making sure the Brotherhood could hear her over the comm link as well. "They discovered Remy could increase the explosive potential of the missiles and recognised him when he was here the other day. They've got their 'delivery system' full of missiles, Remy and a power amplifier so he'll have no choice but ta super-charge the missiles. Their delivery system will get ta Hammer Bay in five hours _and it's going ta be launched any time now_."

"You know where they're keeping him?" asked Wolverine.

"This way," Rogue said, running down the hall, only to be confronted by another team of Purifiers. "Ah have no time for this! Get out of muh way!"

The rest of the X-men stopped and stared while Rogue took out twelve Purifiers by herself in record time.

"Did she...?" Iceman began.

"Yep," Wolverine replied. "Let this be a lesson to you: never get between that woman and her man."

On the other side of the base, Quicksilver turned to his teammates.

"Mind if I go on ahead?" he asked. "If Rogue is right -"

"Go," said Domino.

She knew all too well that Hammer Bay had the highest population in all of Genosha. If the Purifiers succeeded, there was no telling how many casualties there would be.

* * *

"Get. Me. Out. Of. Here," Gambit said tersely.

The two Purifiers were on the ground, probably dead, knowing Marrow and Erg. Erg was inspecting the delivery system.

"Sorry man," said Erg. "I can't find the dampener."

"Erg," Marrow said from the console, "come here a second."

Erg stepped out and Gambit couldn't stop a little whimper coming out. He hated being trapped and restrained. If Erg heard him though, he paid him no mind and joined Marrow at the console. She smirked at him as he peered over.

"Waddya think?" she asked.

"Hey, you found out how to redirect it?" Erg asked. "Nice. Chicago, huh?"

"Well, we know there's still that Purifier base in the city," Marrow pointed out.

"What the hell?" Gambit demanded.

"Are you sure though?" asked Erg, pointing his thumb at Gambit. "He has helped us out a lot over the years -"

Marrow looked at him. Erg shifted his feet, cleared his throat and finally said: "Well, it's your call. I'll just wait outside, shall I? You know and... keep guard."

"You do that," Marrow said.

"Sarah! Erg!" Gambit demanded.

There was no reply, however, until after Erg shut the door behind him. Marrow tapped away at the console.

"Did you think I was stupid, Remy?" Marrow asked.

"What?" he asked, finding himself tugging at the restraints again. "No."

"I know you were never a Morlock," she went on. "So one does have to ask: just why was it that you were in the sewers at the same time the Massacre was going on?"

The sick feeling in his stomach seem to overflow and Gambit felt like he was going to throw up. His breathing started becoming laboured and he shook his head, unable to say anything.

"That's what I thought," Marrow said in response to his silence. "You never saved my life, you just spared it. You were with the Marauders."

"Sarah -"

"Shut up!" Marrow practically screamed at him. "I don't want to hear any more of your silver-tongued lies, Gambit! You murdered my family!"

"Marrow, you can't do this -"

"The hell I can't," Marrow said, her hand slamming down on the launch controls.

"Hate me if you must, but another massacre -"

"No! I'm sick and tired of the flatscans killing us," Marrow shouted as the delivery system door began to close. "It's their turn now."

The door closed, sealing Gambit in darkness. He felt and heard the vibration and hum of the engines as the delivery system took off. He yanked and tugged at the restraints, his skins being rubbed raw in the process.

And then he felt his powers come back. He could feel a nipping at his energy, as if something was trying to drag the charge out of him and he knew in the moment that if he tried to blow up his restraints, he'd only end up blowing off his hands and feet as well. His breathing was heavy and he had to make a concerted effort to calm himself down.

"Remy, think," he told himself. "Okay so Sarah wants yo' dead, dat's... dat's... well, she's hardly the only one. But I ain't going t' go out taking the population o' Chicago wit' moi so I gotta stop dis t'ing somehow."

* * *

"Sarah! Erg!" Rogue exclaimed as she reached the hallway outside the launch bay. "You're all right! Where's Remy? Did they launch already?"

Marrow and Erg looked at each other. At the same time, Quicksilver joined them.

"Sorry," said Marrow. "They've launched already. You're too late."

"No," Rogue insisted. "No, it's never too late. Quicksilver... do you mind if Ah borrow ya?"

* * *

This was going to hurt.

Since Gambit couldn't blow the restraints off him without over charging them, then clearly he was going to have to blow himself off the restraints. He let his power leak out of his body and felt the amplifier take that little bit of energy and multiply it. He sent the energy across the panel to which he was bound, leaned as far forward as he could and released the charge.

Bang! Thwack!

Gambit groaned as he hit the sealed door and wasted a few seconds while he fought off the dizzy spell caused by the impact. The back of the Purifier uniform he'd been dressed in was reduced to rags as a result of the explosion and he was peripherally aware he'd been burned although he couldn't feel any pain just yet.

He could feel the amplifier sucking away harder at his power and try as he might, more and more energy was leached out of him. The room started to glow with magenta light that got brighter by the second. Obviously, blowing open the door and jumping out wasn't an option.

He turned and looked around. His eyes fell on the panelling. If he recalled correctly, the panels on the walls were slightly longer than the missiles that they had been manufacturing. His eyes lit up, and not just because of all that kinetic energy he was leaking. He pressed his hands against the nearest panel and to his delight, discovered that it was capable of sliding across. He pushed the panel aside and inside he found a missile and a lever conveniently labelled "manual launch". The space taken up by the missile was just large enough for him, so he pulled the lever.

Immediately, the outside panel fell out and the missile moved outside. There was only a moment's pause before the missile fired up and launched. As soon as it cleared, Gambit rolled out through the hole and went into free fall.

After Gambit had fallen some distance, he extended his arms in front of him. He had no idea if this would even work to slow his decent, but he was never one to simply accept his fate. He charged up as many air molecules as he could and let them blow. He did it again and again, keeping his eyes closed tight to avoid the flash of the explosion blinding him. It could have been just his imagination, but he thought he could feel his body stop just for a second with every explosion.

* * *

It was hard not to miss the giant ball of magenta light in the sky and Rogue flew straight towards it.

"Remy!" she cried out as she reached the delivery system and at the same time, spotted the hole.

With Quicksilver's powers at her disposal, it had been an easy matter to catch up with the delivery system. It was just as easy to appraise the matter quickly: hole in the system, Gambit was no longer inside - a quick look around below and there he was, just behind her.

Rogue took hold of the delivery system. Without Gambit to sustain the charge, there was nothing to keep it from releasing. Ms Marvel's super strength gave her all the skill she needed to hurl the delivery system right out of the atmosphere as if it was no heavier than a baseball. She turned almost instantly and zoomed towards Gambit, snatching him up in her arms.

"Chére!" he exclaimed. "About time yo' got here. I thought I was going t' have t' do all the work m'self."

The truth was he hadn't been expecting her at all, but boy, was he glad.

"Ah thought Ah'd make ya sweat a bit," Rogue replied tolerantly as she flew them back to the Keys.

Gambit chuckled.

* * *

The teams exchanged stories over a much appreciated lunch. Psylocke, now wide awake and back to her usual self, listened with interest about everything that when on. While Rogue had been rescuing Gambit, the Brotherhood and the X-men had destroyed the Purifier base and sent the Purifiers running for the lives (the ones who weren't killed by those who had no problem with that kind of thing). Marrow, and Erg to a lesser extent, kept as far away from Gambit as possible and avoided his gaze.

Fortunately, the only injuries amongst them were minor. Gambit had red raw rings around his wrists and ankles where he had wore off the skin tugging at the restrains. He had a number of burns over his body as well from explosions being far too close to his body. The worst ones were over his hands, arms, and the backs of his lower legs. There would probably be some scarring in those places once he had healed, but for the most part the scorching was akin to bad sunburn.

His boxers by some miracle, actually escaped intact. As this had been the pair that Rogue had once bought him, Gambit declared to her that they were officially his lucky boxers.

"There's something I don't get though," said Domino. "Rogue, you said you had to fly inland to rescue Remy, but... why would it go inland at all? Genosha's in the opposite direction."

"Ah know," Rogue replied with a shrug. "Ah have no idea what that was about. All Ah know is that was the direction that the tracking system was picking it up in. Thanks for the loan, by the way, Pietro. Ah never would have made it in time otherwise."

Pietro shrugged. "No problem."

* * *

Marrow quietly approached Gambit where he sat on the beach, looking out at the waves. She took a deep breath and sat down beside him.

"You didn't tell them," she stated.

There was silence for a time, and finally Gambit replied:

"When I was nineteen, almost twenty, my powers started going out of control. I was blowing up everything, clothes, food, stuff just by looking at it, overcharging everyt'ing wit'out even trying. My own power was killing me so... so I went t' Sinister 'cause he was able t' help me," he said. "I didn't know den what type o' man I'd gotten myself in debt t'. Amongst other t'ings, I was sent t' recruit the Marauders. My final job was t' lead dem int' the sewers unseen by the Morlocks. I didn't know until it was too late what was planned."

"Remy -" Marrow began.

Gambit held up his left hand to silence her, and with his right pulled out a small, round grey container.

"In here is the part o' my brain dat Sinister had t' remove in order fo' moi t' control my powers. I keep it wit' me t' remind myself dat sometimes the smallest t'ings have the highest prices," he told him. "I remember very well the day I received dis. It was the day o' the Massacre. I told him dat dis was the last, don't call, don't write, dat I was out o' the game. I said 'As o' t'day yo' can't afford me no more'."

There was a bitter laugh as Gambit put the small container back into his pocket.

"Do yo' know _why_ Sinister wanted the Morlocks killed?" he asked her.

"That's one question I've never been able to answer," Marrow admitted.

"Because he believed the Morlocks were not'ing more dan a 'waste o' genetic material'."

Marrow spluttered indignantly.

"Yo' have every right t' be angry wit' moi," Gambit went on, cutting into her tirade before she could get very far. "Mebbe we should have talked about dis sooner, I don't know, but what yo' did t'day... Fine, yo' want t' kill me, _fine_. Dat I can get over. Yo' sure as hell aren't the first and yo' won't be the last. But sending me t' blow up Chicago? _Thousands _o' people would have died, Marrow. Yo' wanted t' use me t' slaughter more people. Yo' wanted t' kill far more people dan ever died in the Morlock tunnels."

"Hey, the flatscans have been killing my people for years," Marrow retorted defensively.

"Dere would have been mutants in Chicago too," Gambit replied mildly. "And I know dat Kitty's family lives dere. But hey, what do yo' care? They're just collateral damage, necessary sacrifices required t' rid the world o' a few thousand _wastes o' genetic material_."

"I'm nothing like him!" Marrow exploded. "How dare you compare me to that monster!"

Gambit stood up.

"Our debt is settled, Marrow," he said. "Dis is the last."

"No, Remy -"

"Don't call, don't write. I'm out o' dis game."

"I'm not a monster!"

"As o' today yo' can't afford me no more."


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"Remy," said Bobby with a frown as he approached the bus for the trip back to Westchester. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Gambit asked as he tossed a bag in the luggage compartment.

"Umm, correct me if I'm wrong, but haven't your hands been burnt to cinders?"

"Okay, you're wrong. My hands haven't been burned t' cinders."

"I..." Bobby began, blinked and then grabbed the next bag. "Smart ass."

"Why Bobby," Gambit said, "have yo' been looking? What will Jubilee say?"

"What will I say about what?" asked Jubilee as she approached, supporting a rather tired and miserable looking Rogue.

"Roguey? Yo' okay, chérie?" Gambit asked.

"Ah'll be fine," she replied, stifling a yawn.

"She was up with nightmares again," Jubilee said. "Apparently the life experiences of a Purifier don't make good dreams, go figure."

"Aww chére -"

"Ah said Ah'll be fine," Rogue said firmly. "Ah've got Pietro and Betsy up there too. Ah just need some time. And some sleep."

Without another word, Rogue grumpily got on board the bus. Jubilee shook her head.

"I don't know how you do it, Remy," Jubilee said.

"Do what, chérie?" Gambit asked as Bobby took the next bag away from him before he could touch it.

"Well, you know, sleep in the same room, when she has nightmares and stuff," Jubilee said awkwardly. "You know, with all the throwing up and the pacing around the room and yeah. I mean, I tried to hep but..."

Gambit gave her an amused smile. "I have ways o' helping her get back t' sleep."

Jubilee paused as she noted the mischievous twinkle in his eye.

"A part of me really wants to know, and the other part suspects it wouldn't work coming from me," she said finally.

Gambit chuckled as Jubilee got on board. Soon everyone had arrived and off they went.

Rogue quickly feel asleep, curled up into Gambit's side with his arm around her.

"I suppose we should probably head right back to Genosha after we get back," said Havok.

"Yeah, probably," said Domino.

"The idea doesn't appeal?" asked Bobby.

"Things are pretty crowded, 'specially in Hammer Bay these days," Pyro said. "And even if a lot of the flatscan population has been leaving, Genosha's population had literally doubled in the last year."

"Not enough infrastructure or resources," Pietro said. "Genosha also got a lot of its revenue from tourism. The tourism industry is not what it used to be, and since there's no slave labour any more..."

"No _official_ slave labour," Skids said dryly.

"Fortunately," Pietro went on, "our agriculture industry is flourishing. There are definite advantages to having mutants who can manipulate water, plant growth, fertility, to say nothing about being able to seed and harvest without having to use expensive equipment. Power and water aren't a problem either."

"It's just housing, transport, education, health, high unemployment..." Pyro said cheerfully. "Other than that, we're just peachy. Oh and I forgot the crime rate."

"There you go, Remy," said Bobby. "You'd fit right in."

"S'il vous plaît, don't insult me by lumping me in wit' the amateurs," Gambit replied loftily. "I stopped being one o' those when I was younger dan yo'."

"Yeah Bobby," Kitty said with a wink. "He's only had a million years experience."

"Impossible," Gambit said. "Dat would make me older dan Logan, and no one's older dan him. He's so old, he can't even remember his own birthday."

From the driver's seat, Logan lifted his hand and stuck up his middle claw at him. Gambit chuckled.

"What about you guys?" Skids asked, looking at Marrow and Erg. "You planning on going back to the sewer?"

"Oh don't do that," said Kitty. "You're welcome to say with us, if you want."

"Or you could come back with us," said Pietro. "You'd be more than welcome on Genosha after this."

"Even if it is over-crowded?" Psylocke teased him.

"We can always use more people we can trust."

"I'd like to go," Erg said.

"Yeah, me too," said Marrow. "What about Anole, though?"

"Unless he starts going feral, he's probably better off with the X-men," said Skids. "The Overdrive stubs have been removed and I noticed that Logan over there has been giving him plenty to focus on the in danger room. The only other thing we've been doing is counselling. He'll get more personal attention here."

"Is that a hint to stop sending you guys junkies?" Kitty asked.

"It's okay," Havok said. "You're a school, not a rehab clinic, and some of those guys are dangerous, especially the ones who took high doses, like the ferals with the faster healing factors. But, ahh, maybe we could start sending you guys students? Like Pyro said, education is one of the areas we're lacking in right now."

"You'd have to talk to the Professor," Kitty replied seriously, "but I don't see why not as long as you didn't send more than our capacity."

"What about you, Betsy?" asked Marrow. "Coming to Genosha with us? Or are you going to go back to England?"

"Actually, I'd like to stay with the X-men, if I may," Psylocke replied.

"Sure," Jubilee said enthusiastically. "We'd love to have you."

* * *

Rogue woke up some hours later. She lifted her head with a sigh and looked around sleepily.

"Have a nice nap, chére?" Gambit asked.

"Mmmhmm," she replied. "Where are we?"

He told her and Psylocke swapped seats to the seat in front of them.

"Hey sleepy-head," she said. "You okay, love?"

"Yeah, thanks."

"Jubilee told us sometimes you get nightmares from absorbing the wrong people?"

"Yeah. Let's just say that people with anti-mutant sentiments aren't exactly on the top of muh list of people to absorb," Rogue said dryly. "For that matter, I have quite enough soldiers and holocaust survivors without adding any more. Ah hate relivin' atrocities."

"I don't blame you," Psylocke replied. "So, I have to ask, how much of me have you got in there?"

"Curiosity? Or just trying to work out if I've found out any deep dark secrets?" Rogue asked teasingly.

"Bit of both maybe," Psylocke said with a grin.

Rogue clicked her tongue for a moment and finally said: "Ah know about Kwannon."

"Ahh," Psylocke replied, the grin fading from her face. "Enough said."

"Who's Kwannon?" asked Jubilee.

"She's none of your business, Jubes," Rogue said firmly, and then looked Psylocke in the eye. "None of mine either."

"Thanks," Psylocke said softly.

"Roguey's pretty good at keeping secrets," Gambit said. "Which is good, because she knows most o' mine."

Rogue giggled.

"And mine, and Kitty's and Pete's and Jubilee's..." Bobby said, grinning away. "Welcome to the club, Betsy."

Psylocke laughed.

"Me too," said Pyro.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," Bobby mused.

"And ya'll wonder why Ah have nightmares," Rogue said.

* * *

Rogue ended up sleeping most of the day, so she ended up doing some of the driving overnight. Gambit, being a night owl himself, stayed up with her. At about one in the morning, Psylocke awoke, and finding everyone else still asleep, she wandered down the front.

"Hey," she said softly.

"Hi Betsy," Rogue replied as Gambit gave Psylocke a brief nod. "You're up."

"It's hard to get a decent night's sleep in these places," Psylocke replied.

"Got that right," Rogue agreed.

There was a moment of silence.

"So, Remy," Psylocke said. "I was wondering if I might have a word?"

Gambit shrugged and leaned back in the chair.

"Sure, why not?"

"Well the thing is," Psylocke said with a quick glance at Rogue, "Rogue mentioned to me that you had a bad experience with a telekinetic not that long ago."

"Oh?" Gambit replied tightly.

"Ah didn't say what," Rogue said firmly.

"I'm not asking what," Psylocke said quickly. "What I am saying is that, well, frankly I resent being lumped into some kind of 'all telekinetics are bad' basket. I'd really like to join the X-men -"

"So join," Gambit said. "I'm not an X-man. I have no say in who joins and who doesn't."

"But you still live there, at the mansion," Betsy pointed out. "You teach and you join them on missions. I would like to think that if we're going to be living together that you'll at least be open to get to know me and find out I'm not a bad person."

Rogue decided that the wisest course was to stay out of this one. Gambit was silent for a moment.

"I'm sure you are, Betsy," he said finally. "Yo' know how it is; rational part o' yo' says 'not all telekinetics are alike' while the irrational part is busy panicking."

Betsy snickered. "Yeah, I get that."

"Look, dat irrational side can't wait t' see the back o' yo', but I ain't stupid," Gambit went on. "Telekinesis is a reasonably common power. I'm going t' have t' learn t' deal wit' yo' sooner or later. Just, umm, don't hold me immobile... ever. I hate dat. I _really_ hate dat."

"Okay," Psylocke agreed. "If it makes you feel any better, my TK is kind of lousy. I can make psiblades and generally kick ass, but I can't move a coin to save my life."

Gambit laughed.

"Seriously, anything small I can't budge even a millimetre. It's a pain in the arse," Psylocke said with a grin. "My 'fine motor control' is none existent."

"Strangely enough, chérie," he replied, "oui, dat does make me feel better."

* * *

Marrow stared out of the window, watching the scenery fly past. Gambit hadn't spoken to her at all since they left Florida, not directly anyway. She didn't know whether she was glad or angry. She remembered when she first started questioning herself about Gambit rescuing her. He'd always been so good to her; she just never wanted to believe that he was a Marauder. She kept inventing elaborate scenario after scenario to explain his presence at that critical time, and even thought about asking him, but she'd always chickened out. A part of her knew the truth, but she never wanted to say it or hear it out loud.

Strangely enough, as much as she wanted to, Marrow just couldn't hate Gambit. A part of her really wanted his approval and the very idea of him comparing her to Mr Sinister hurt all in itself.

She wasn't a monster.

Marrow had been called a monster before, usually by people who had freaked out at the sight of her bones. She had long since learned, though, that there was a difference between a monster on the outside and a monster on the inside. The idea that she might be a monster in and out...

She _was not_ a monster.

Was it really so wrong to want to kill the people who had been killing her and hers for as long as she could remember? She'd often believed that people who killed "outside monsters" were the real monsters. They were the ones who weren't looking past appearances. It was their fault she'd lived in sewers for most of her life. They killed her friends, and tried to kill her.

She was nothing like Sinister. She didn't think they were a waste of genetic material at all!

Or... did she?

* * *

"Gambit," he said as he answered his Guild phone.

"So, have yo' proposed yet?" asked Jean-Luc.

"Dat's going t' be your new favourite question, isn't it?"

"Oui."

"I'm going t' start avoiding your calls."

Jean-Luc laughed.

"What's he asking?" Rogue inquired.

"You're happier not knowing," Gambit told her.

"So Remy," Jean-Luc said slyly, "mind if I speak t' Rogue for a minute?"

"Oui, actually I do," Gambit replied. "Is dere a reason fo' dis call? Or did yo' just want t' ask the question?"

"Does dere have t' be a reason fo' a man t' call his son?"

"In other words yo' were going nuts sitting on your hands not asking the question."

"What question is dat?"

"You're not going t' trick me int' saying it aloud either," Gambit said firmly. "Dere are too many o' the wrong people in ear shot."

"Oh yo' have visitors? Yo' should put me on speaker."

"I'm not putting yo' on speaker, Père. None o' dese kids want t' talk t' an old fart."

Rogue giggled.

"Did he just call his dad an old fart?" asked Jubilee.

"Yep," Rogue replied with a grin.

"Yo' watch your mouth, boy." Jean-Luc said.

"I can't," Gambit said. "My nose is in the way."

* * *

To say that the X-men were happy to be home was putting it mildly. Sure, playing tourist in Florida had been rather fun, but the whole Purifier thing did rather put a dampener on the situation. Nevertheless, everyone was glad to be able to sleep in their own rooms when they arrived at the mansion well after dinner.

Gambit was particularly happy to wake up beside Rogue in the morning. He hugged her close and planted the occasional kiss on her shoulder.

"Mornin' sugah," she said.

"Mornin'," he replied. "Sleep well?"

"Yep."

"Bon,"

Rogue turned over so she could face him. She traced her hand over his face.

"Ah hope you're not planning on any more trips without me," she said. "Ah'm just not going ta let ya go."

Gambit chuckled and kissed her lips gently.

"Désolé ma chére, but you're stuck wit' me fo' now."

"Yay."

"Actually..." he began and then trailed off uncertainly.

"What?" Rogue asked, looking at him curiously.

"I'm... t'inking... of mebbe biting the bullet and officially joining the X-men."

Rogue's face lit up. "Really?"

"Oui, really," Gambit replied with a smile. "Let's face it chére, it's probably just a formality at dis point. I'm teaching, going on missions, getting stuck doing chores..."

"Living here."

"Dat too."

"What about the Guild?" she asked. "And stealing?"

Gambit gave a half shrug.

"Mostly just stealing fo' kicks dese days," he said. "I stopped needing t' steal fo' a living years ago. I get plenty o' kicks out o' the danger room and missions. And I get my best kicks out o' yo'."

Rogue smiled. "Ah love ya too."

Gambit cupped her face in his hands and kissed her deeply.

"You know what this means?" Rogue said softly when they pulled away after a few minutes.

"What?" he asked.

"Ah'm finally gonna see ya in the uniform."

Gambit laughed as Rogue waggled her eyebrows at him.

* * *

The Brotherhood, Marrow and Erg were packing up and preparing to leave when Warren arrived.

"Hey," he said, almost shyly. "I was hoping I could talk to you guys..."

"Go ahead," said Domino. "We'll let you know when we're ready to leave."

Marrow watched as the X-men walked off. Gambit still hadn't spoken to her. She wondered if he would even say good bye.

"Sarah?" Erg asked. "You okay? You've been quiet ever since we left Florida."

Marrow shook her head. "It's nothing."

"Okay," he said dubiously. "If you're sure."

That was the thing; she wasn't sure about anything any more. She kept going over and over her decision to sent Gambit to bomb Chicago and hope that the Purifiers were right about the amount of damage it was expected to cause. She kept denying she was a monster, all the while wondering if maybe she really was ugly in and out. A growing need for Gambit's approval was nagging at her.

She'd never needed it before. Why did she need it now?

* * *

"See, here's the thing," Warren said to the group before him, "Kitty, you remember I told you about the modelling contract I'd been offered after that Purifier tried to kill me?"

Psylocke stiffened at that particular piece of news. Warren, also a mutant got _offered_ a modelling contract, while she had been blacklisted? The injustice rankled.

"Yeah," Kitty said.

"Didja take it?" asked Jubilee. "Do I foresee pin up in your future?"

"No, I didn't take it," Warren replied. "But I did remember what you girls said about... about being a, ahem, poster boy for 'mutants are awesome'."

Rogue and Jubilee giggled at Warren's obvious embarrassment.

"And it got me to thinking about positive press," Warren went on quickly. "There's so much negative press about mutants these days, it's little wonder why everyone's scared of us. I thought it might be a good idea for the world to start seeing mutants not only doing good, but also using their gifts for good. Which is why…"

Warren was about to continue when the door opened and everyone followed his eyes and he looked to see who was there. Marrow avoided everyone's gaze except for Professor Xavier's.

"Umm, I was wondering," she said tentatively, "would it be too late for me to join the X-men?"

"Of course not, my dear," the Professor replied. "Please, come and join us. Warren was just telling us about a project he would like us to be involved with."

"Right," said Warren as Marrow took her seat. "Well, as I was saying, I was hoping that you guys might join me in building some houses for the homeless."

"You can _do_ that?" Marrow asked in surprise.

"Sure," Warren replied. "Thousands of houses get built all over the world every year."

"Well," said Kitty, "I think it's a great idea. Count me in."

"Me too," said Pete.

"Love to," said Rogue with a nod. "Remy would too."

"Heh," Bobby said to Gambit with a snicker. "You have no choice in the matter now."

He followed this up with a whipping noise.

"That was quite a good impression," Gambit said dryly. "I guess we now know what you and Jubilee get up to in the bedroom."

"We do no such thing," Jubilee replied, paused and then added, "yet."

"I do not want to know," said Kitty while Bobby laughed.

"Ahem," Kurt said. "I would like to help, also."

"Great," said Warren.

"Yeah," said Marrow. "I'm in too."

While everyone else expressed their interest in helping, Gambit could feel Marrow's eyes on him. He kept his face impassive, but inwardly he smiled.

* * *

**AN:**

S'il vous plaît = please


	10. Chapter 9

**AN: **

I just have to say, I planned the scene with the LeBeaus when I was still writing **I Mock Your Shiny Toothpicks**, I kid you not, hahaha. Such a relief to _finally_ have it written!**  
**

* * *

**Chapter 9**

"Ya'll done with that wall yet?" Rogue asked.

"Yep," Bobby replied. "Just now."

"Excellent."

Rogue picked up the wall they'd just finished putting together and lifted it into place. The X-men were working on one of the houses that Warren had arranged. Rogue held the wall steady while Bobby and Gambit secured it in place. It had been some weeks since they'd come back from Florida and Gambit's burns had finally healed. There was some minor scarring over his hands and ankles, but as he usually wore boots and fingerless gloves, only the scarring on his fingers was seen.

"Yay, we have a wall!" Kitty cheered, and promptly took a photo.

"And we're about to have a second one," Psylocke said smugly.

Rogue chuckled from where she floated in the air while Psylocke lifted the second wall telekinetically. However, as Psylocke had told Gambit, her fine motor control wasn't very good and Rogue helped line it up properly in place.

Gambit looked away while this was happening, and frowned as his eyes settled on the road.

"Huh," he said. "Looks like we've got company."

A van with "W-ARC TV" printed on the side started slowing down as they approached.

"Yeah?" asked Jubilee, looking up to see.

"News crew," Gambit said.

"Oh good," Warren said. "I was wondering when they'd get here."

"Hmm, and dat would be my cue t' leave."

"Aww, you're not leaving us so soon, love?" asked Psylocke.

"Oui," Gambit replied with a joviality that masked his seriousness. "Dis handsome face shows up on TV, I'll be inundated wit' modelling contracts like Angel here was."

It had nothing at all to do with wanting to get away from Psylocke's telekinesis or personal security reasons. Really. Ahem.

"Okay, sugah," Rogue said, floating down to give him a kiss good bye. "Ah'll see ya at home."

"You got a modelling control?" Psylocke asked Warren, taking advantage of the opportunity to question him about something that had been bothering her.

"Uhh, I don't like to talk about it," Warren replied uncomfortably.

"Adieu, mes amis," Gambit said.

A mish mash of goodbyes followed him as he made his way to his motorcycle and took off.

"I used to be a model," Psylocke admitted. "Until I got blacklisted by stupid mutant hating bastards with too much power for their own bloody good."

"Oh yeah?" Bobby asked with a waggle of his eyebrows. "Pin up?"

"Fashion."

"What happened?" asked Kitty.

"You remember that world wide incident a few years back where first all the mutants started collapsing and passing out, and then when they recovered all the humans went through the same thing?" Psylocke asked.

"Yes," said Bobby. "Definitely remember that."

"Well, I was busy doing a fashion show in Prague at the time. Everyone saw me collapse in the middle of the catwalk," Psylocke said grimly. "Then I recovered and all the humans had their turn. Unfortunately, there were a few too many bigwigs with power watching me that day. When the mutant/human thing was figured out, not only was I outed, but I was also blamed for the whole thing."

"That's stupid," said Bobby. "It wasn't your fault. It was –"

"Sorry to interrupt, but I should go say hi to our visitors," said Warren.

"Good luck!" Rogue called after him.

While the X-men told Psylocke all about "Dark Cerebro", Warren flew over to the news crew which was wasting no time in getting set up. As soon as he landed, the reporter approached him.

"Hi, you must be Mr Worthington," she said. "I'm Trish Tilby."

"Nice to meet you, Ms Tilby," Warren replied. "Please, call me Warren. Mr Worthington is my father."

"Warren it is then," Trish replied with a smile. "And you can call me Trish. I see you're already hard at work."

"That's right," Warren replied and then went on to talk about how far they'd gotten so far. Trish listened with interest and then arranged for an opening interview.

"Okay," said one of the crew. "We're ready in five, four..."

Warren watched as he counted down the last three numbers on his fingers.

"Good evening, this is Trish Tilby with W-ARC TV," she said. "I'm here with Warren Worthington the Third outside of one of the many homes that he and his team of volunteers are building for families in need. Warren, can you tell us something about what you're doing here?"

"Well, this is the first of what we hope will be many houses," Warren said and when went on to basically say the same things he mentioned to Trish earlier about their progress.

"Now there's something very special about your group of volunteers," Trish said.

"That's right. A little over half of us are mutants, and I have to say, Trish, it's been really great to see everyone working together so well, regardless of whether they have the x-factor or not."

"This is definitely a far cry from the attack on you November last year, when someone tried to kill you because you were a mutant."

"Definitely, and I much prefer this," Warren said, gesturing to the house being built behind him, "over getting stabbed any day."

"I understand that he was let out on bail, and never showed up to court?"

"Yeah. I hope they catch him. Next time he tries to kill a mutant, they might not be as lucky as I was to have a knife-proof friend."

"And is she here today?"

"Ahh, yes, actually," Warren said, and in an effort to get off that awkward subject, turned the conversation back to the project.

After the interview was concluded, the news crew moved in to talk to the volunteers and film them at work.

* * *

"You mean to say, after all these months, you're finally finished?" Kitty asked Pete eagerly.

"Da Katya," Pete replied. "Although it might have been finished a lot sooner if you hadn't kept dodging sitting and fidgeting when you did."

"Umm, sorry," Kitty said bashfully. "But it's done? I can finally see it?"

In answer, Pete lifted the cloth off the canvas and Kitty's face lit up as he eyes fell on the portrait of herself.

"Oh Pete!" she exclaimed. "It's beautiful."

"No, Katya," Pete replied quietly, wrapping his arms around her tiny waist. "You are the one who is beautiful."

* * *

Rogue looked up from her motorcycle magazine to see Kitty and Jubilee grinning at her.

"Okay," Rogue said. "What did ya'll do this time?"

"You might want to see this," said Kitty, holding out a sheet of paper. "I just printed that off from a news page on the net."

Jubilee giggled while Rogue took the paper.

"Ya have ta be kidding me," Rogue said as her eyes fell on the picture of herself and Warren on the work site. Warren had flown up to resupply Rogue with more nails, but the angle of the picture was such that it suggested something else. "Of all the pictures..."

"So Rogue," Jubilee said gleefully. "What's it like having two boyfriends?"

"Shut up, Jubes. You're not helping."

Jubilee just laughed at her.

* * *

Bobby had it all figured out. It had taken months of "dating just to keep everyone off our backs", but he had finally figured out the way to win Jubilee over.

"Hey Sarah," Bobby said. "I was wondering if you might do me a favour?"

"What favour?" Marrow asked sceptically.

Bobby explained the situation and his plan. Marrow looked at him like he was an idiot and finally replied:

"This dating stuff is a load of crap, you know that right?"

"Uhh...I don't think so..."

Marrow sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine. It doesn't require any real effort from me anyway."

"Yay! Thank you!" Bobby replied happily.

Later that day in the rec room, Bobby waited until Jubilee and Marrow were both in the room. He took a breath, excused himself and walked over to Marrow.

"Hi Sarah, I was wondering," he said, loud enough for Jubilee to overhear, "if you'd like to go out with me sometime?"

"Aren't you dating Jubilee?" Marrow asked.

"Nah," Bobby replied. "It's just pretend dating because everyone else thinks we should –"

He never got to finish his sentence for Jubilee had stalked over to him and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

"Pretend dating my ass!" Jubilee said as she dragged him out of the rec room. "I'll show you 'pretend dating'."

Since Jubilee couldn't see it, Bobby's face burst into a huge grin and he gave Marrow two thumbs up as Jubilee hauled him out the door. Marrow just rolled her eyes.

* * *

"Betsy?" said Pete. "Phone for you."

"Me?" Psylocke asked in surprise.

"Da. It's Warren."

"Why on earth would he be calling me?" Psylocke asked.

Pete shrugged. "I guess you'll just have to ask him."

"Thanks, Pete."

Pete nodded and walked off while Psylocke took the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hi Betsy," said Warren. "Umm, I was hoping you might clear something up for me."

"Sure."

"Your name's Elizabeth Braddock, right?"

"Right."

"Okay, because I was doing some looking, and the Elizabeth Braddock who got outed as a mutant in Prague is Caucasian, not Japanese."

"I see. So now you're probably wondering why I would say that was me."

"The thought did cross my mind."

"I tell you what, I'll answer your question, if you answer one of mine."

"Which is?"

"Why are you checking up on me?"

There was a pause, and then Warren said: "Deal."

"This is going to sound farfetched," Psylocke warned him. "But do bear in mind that I _am_ a telepath and we are both mutants."

"I'm listening."

"A few months after I was blacklisted, I was kidnapped. By ninjas."

"I can see what you mean by farfetched."

"It gets worse. You see, one of their number was a woman named Kwannon, who had recently been declared brain dead," Psylocke said seriously. "Her husband didn't want to lose her, and was advised that a telepath may be able to save her, which was why they kidnapped me. They forced a body swap: Kwannon got my body and I was stuck in hers."

"Wait, if Kwannon was brain dead," said Warren, sounding puzzled, "how on earth would swapping bodies help?"

"Her mind was intact, and so was my brain," Psylocke explained. "The only reason why I'm not the one who's brain dead is because my telepathy allows me to bypass the damaged portions of Kwannon's brain. Fortunately, psionic dampeners don't affect me internally, otherwise I'd be in a lot of strife."

"You're right," said Warren. "In terms of farfetchedness, it did get worse."

"My family has trouble... accepting me in this body, so I have trouble going home. Brian – he's my twin brother – he's gotten used to it, but not my parents, so we usually only talk on the phone. However, if you don't believe me and –"

"No, I'll take your word for it," Warren assured her. "I think crazy stories come with the territory of being a mutant sometimes."

Psylocke laughed.

"And as for your question, well, the reason why I was looking into, umm, you, was well... How'd you like to get back into modelling again?"

* * *

Three days later, Gambit sat down to dinner and was about to put his first mouthful of food into his mouth when his Guild phone rang. Rogue grinned at him as he sighed and answered it.

"Gambit," he said.

"Bonjour mon frère," Henri said languidly. "Fair notice: if yo' don't open the gates t' the Xavier Institute oh, in the next ten seconds, we're going t' see how far we can get before your security system catches us."

"You're..." Gambit began, then bolted upright out of his chair and looked toward the window. "Excusez-moi!"

Henri laughed while Gambit practically ran out of the dining hall, leaving everyone starring after him.

"Okay," said Pete. "What was that about?"

"Well," Rogue said slowly. "He answered the phone 'Gambit' which means it's probably someone from the Thieves Guild, most likely a family member. Muh guess is Jean-Luc or Henri. Why he's running away, Ah have no idea though."

There was some idle speculation, but no more than two minutes later Gambit reappeared at the dining hall with three people in tow. Everyone watched as Gambit - his face lit up with joy - led them over to their table.

"Hey!" Rogue said cheerfully. "Long time no see."

"Everyone," Gambit said to the X-men, "Dis is mon frère, Henri, his wife, Mercy and ma niece, Georgette."

"Gigi," Gigi corrected, glaring at her uncle.

"A pleasure to see you again," said Storm. "Please, pull up a chair."

"Don't mind if we do," said Henri. "How you been, 'Ro?"

"Well, thank you," Storm replied. "And yourselves?"

"Good, good."

"Oh," Gambit said quickly. "And dese are Logan, Hank, Kurt, yo' know Stormy -"

"Do not call me that," Storm said as Henri snickered.

"And yo' know Roguey. Jubilee, Bobby, Kitty, Pete, Sarah, Betsy, Anole," Gambit said, "and Professor Xavier. Table's getting a bit crowded dese days, heh."

"Yo' forgot about them," Gigi said, gesturing to the students at all the other tables.

"I didn't forget, I chose not t' mention dem," Gambit replied cheerfully.

"I bet yo' don't even remember all their names," Gigi said.

"The students don't have names," Gambit replied with a straight face. "They have numbers."

"You're not serious."

"O' course not, what do yo' take me for?" Gambit asked. "By the way, have yo' eaten yet? 'Cause feel free t' raid the buffet. Dere's plenty."

"Thanks Remy," said Mercy, "but we ate before we got here."

"Oh, I'm always up for a second dinner," Henri said cheerfully.

"Guts."

"Your point?"

"Oh Rogue, I have to tell you about my cousin, Theo," Gigi said mischievously as Henri got up.

"Ha!" Henri said, stopping to lean on the back of his chair. "See Mercy? I told yo' she wouldn't last long."

Mercy chuckled and Gambit raised his eyebrow.

"What about Theoren?" Gambit asked.

"He's like, a distant cousin or something, by the way," Gigi told Rogue. "Some cousin, something-or-other removed. He's 40 something and got divorced last year."

"Okay," Rogue said.

"Anyway," Gigi said with a giggle, "I think he's having a midlife crisis. He bought himself a jetski."

"Dat doesn't mean anyt'ing, petite," Gambit said. "Theo's always wanted a jetski."

"He's also dying his hair black," Gigi said, her grin growing broader. "Annnnd he has a new girlfriend."

"Already? Dat didn't take long," Gambit said.

"Yeah," Mercy said dryly.

"Uh huh," Gigi said gleefully. "She's all of twenty. Soooooo Rogue... how old are you again?"

Gambit threw Gigi a dark look and was about to object to the implication when Rogue piped up:

"Ohmigod! Remy, it explains everything," she exclaimed. "Ah must be havin' a midlife crisis."

"_Yo'_ must be chére?" Gambit asked.

"N-no," Gigi said, pointing at Gambit. "He's the one who -"

"It all makes sense now," Rogue insisted with a nod of her head. "We're all the sum of our experiences, right? Well, when Ah was seventeen, Ah absorbed Magneto and Logan all in one day, thereby increasing muh experience age by... Ah don't know, two hundred years? Not only that, but muh hair also changed colour, Ah stared ridin' motorcycles and then Ah started datin' much younger men. Bobby. You."

Gambit, Henri, Mercy and various others at the table burst out laughing. Gigi pulled a face while Rogue grinned broadly at her.

"Spoil all my fun," Gigi muttered.

"Burst your bubble, did Ah?" Rogue asked.

"Yeah," Gigi said. "Do yo' know how long I've been planning on saying dat?"

"Longer than it took me ta come up with that answer."

"Heh, I'm dating an older woman," Gambit said with a snicker. "Y'know Rogue, I have t' say fo' someone who's two hundred years old you're looking mighty fine."

"Why thank ya sugah."

"Definitely aged well."

"Like fine wine?"

"Well, yo' do have a good body."

"And while Remy's busy flirting," said Henri, "I'm finally going to get that second dinner."

"So," asked Gigi looking at the others at the table. "Anyone else here blow up stuff or steal people's thoughts?"

Rogue laughed.

Marrow sat frowning through the discussion about mutant powers that followed. Gambit had mentioned his family occasionally to her, but he'd never mentioned they were human. Well, didn't he just have everything? A close family that was alive and well, the ability to walk down the street without being treated like a monster, a nice place to live, good food, love, control over his powers.

She hated his guts.

_"That's a lie, and you know it," _said Psylocke's voice in her head.

_"Stay out of my head!"_

_"Love, you're broadcasting your thoughts so loudly every telepath in the state can probably hear you."_

_"Says you."_

_"You can always ask the good Professor for his opinion if you disagree. Now, stop being such a sook and wipe that sour look off your face."_

Marrow rolled her eyes.

They chatted their way through dinner and dessert, and eventually everyone started getting up and going off to do their own thing. Marrow was amongst the first to depart. Finally there were only the LeBeaus, Rogue, Storm and Logan left

"So, Remy," said Henri as he stood up. "How about we go out and get some drinks?"

"Sounds like a plan," Gambit replied.

"By the way, there's something I need to tell you."

"Yeah?"

"It's about Père," Henri said gravely.

"What about him?"

"Well," Henri said, taking a deep breath. "See, the t'ing is... he's been looking at... holiday brochures."

Gambit blinked. "Oookay."

"Oui, we're a little concerned," Henri went on. "We t'ink he might not have been bluffing about retiring."

"Retiring?" Gambit repeated and noted the twinkle of delight in Henri's eyes. "Is he..."

"Oui."

"Does that..."

"Uh huh."

"Yo' mean..."

"Yo' can come home, Remy," Henri said with a great big grin. "Bella Donna rescinded your exile yesterday. We thought we should deliver the news in person."

"Whoohoo!" Gambit yelled.

There was some laughter through the congratulations as Gambit proceeded to do a little happy dance. He hugged Henri tightly – being the closest person to him – and then he grabbed Rogue and hugged her too.

"Hear dat, chére? I can go home!"

Rogue was given no chance to reply as his lips were on hers. He kissed her deeply as he whirled her around, her feet flying through the air and almost hitting a nearby chair. As he lowered her back to the ground and finally took his lips away, he said the first thing that came to him:

"Will yo' marry me?"

For a moment there was silence while Rogue stared at him in complete shock. Then she started shaking her head.

"Oh no you don't," she said firmly, wagging her finger at him. "You do not get ta ask me _that question_ when you're high on the news that ya get ta go back home for the first time in almost nineteen years."

There was another silence.

"Is that a yes?" Gambit asked.

Rogue glared at him.

"It's a 'if you me me ta marry ya, then you had better put some thought inta it and propose ta me proper-like', Swamp Rat."

Before any awkward silence could develop, however, Henri tapped Gambit on the shoulder.

"See dat?" said Henri. "Now we know who wears the pants in your relationship."


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Rogue was having trouble sleeping, but not because of any of her psyches for once.

Gambit had _proposed_ to her.

_Proposed._

She had never been so terrified in her life.

It wasn't that she didn't want to get married or that she hadn't thought about marrying Gambit, Jubilee's suggestions aside. Rogue hadn't expected him to propose any time soon, and she supposed a part of her had been banking on that, because she wasn't sure if she was ready.

And how could she be certain that Gambit was even ready? He'd proposed on a whim, on the spur of the moment. Maybe even now he was regretting the words came out of his mouth. Maybe he was relieved she'd turned him down.

Or maybe he was angry and embarrassed and wouldn't want to talk to her and this would end their relationship.

The door opened and Rogue's head shot up, her eyes landing on Gambit as he walked through the door after his night out with his brother.

"Ah didn't mean Ah wouldn't marry you," she blurted out quickly, "It's just that it's such a huge decision and we've never really talked about it and –"

"Chére, chére," Gambit interrupted her, putting his finger on her lips. "It's okay, really."

Rogue took a deep breath as Gambit stepped back and started getting ready for bed.

"Really?" she asked nervously.

Gambit sighed as he tossed his trench coat over the chair.

"Really," he insisted, knowing he sounded a little testy, but not meaning to.

Silence followed. Rogue scrubbed her hands together where she sat on the bed. Gambit finished undressing and got into bed. He was somewhat torn about the whole thing. A part of him was feeling a little humiliated by effectively being turned down in front of everyone, another part relieved. What scared and surprised him the most though, was that there was a very big part of him which desperately wanted her to say yes, and was rather worried that she might never say that at all.

He hesitated and finally spoke, not wanting to go to sleep with this still hanging over their heads:

"Rogue," he said gently. "I love yo', yo' know dat."

"Uh huh," Rogue replied, sounding a little choked up. "Ah love you too."

"And you're right," he said. "It is a big decision, and we haven't really talked about it outside o' telling off Jubilee and whoever else fo' bringing it up all the time."

"Exactly! And ya just got some exciting news – and Ah'm really very happy for ya, by the way – and lots of people do stuff when they're on an emotional high that they wouldn't normally do, and Ah didn't know if it was you talking or the excitement -"

"Whoa, wait a second," Gambit said, half sitting up and leaning on his arm, "yo' don't t'ink I was serious?"

"Well, Ah... it just... umm..."

"Yo' t'ink I was _joking_? About _dat_?"

"No! Not joking!" Rogue said quickly. "Ah mean, it was just so... spur of the moment, and Ah know that some people think that's kind of romantic - and don't get me wrong, sugah, Ah love it when you're spontaneous - but not... not things like... like marriage which is a major life-changing decision. Ah just... Ah need ta know you've thought it through and that it's what you really want."

Gambit laid back down again and close his eyes.

"So," he said slowly, "when yo' say yo' want a 'proper' proposal..."

"Ah don't mean that ya have ta have a ring and get on one knee or anything, unless of course, ya want to. It just needs to be... planned in advance," Rogue said quietly, then sighed and laid down as well.

There was a long silence while Gambit mentally debated whether he should ask her if she would have accepted or not. In the end he decided to let it go; either answer would probably just lead to a fight and he didn't want to deal with that right now.

"Remy?" Rogue said softly.

"Yeah?" he asked after a moment's pause.

"Ah'm sorry if Ah embarrassed ya or anything."

Gambit let out a long, slow breath, rolled over to face her and took her hand.

"Yeah, yo' did," he said. "But it wasn't an outright no, so..."

There was another silence.

"It wasn't just... just the timin'," Rogue said meekly. "It was also... well, Ah guess Ah was kind of scared."

"_Yo'_ were scared?" Gambit said. "How do yo' t'ink I felt when the words came out o' my mouth and met wit' silence?"

Rogue winced. "Ah'm sorry. Ah know Ah want ta get married... some day... Ah didn't think that you and Ah were, y'know, at that point in our relationship yet and Ah wasn't prepared and... and..."

"So let's start talking about it, chére. Okay, I'll concede dat I hadn't given marriage a whole lot o' serious thought before, but those words came from somewhere. I'm not exactly given t' spontaneous proposals every time I get good news."

Rogue started giggling. "If ya were, you'd be married long before now?"

"Somet'ing like."

Rogue rolled over and snuggled into him.

"Ah need and want ya in muh life, Remy," she said firmly. "Maybe Ah don't know if Ah'm ready ta get married just now, but Ah don't know that Ah'm _not_ ready either. Ah do know that Ah love you so very, very much and even the idea of not being with you breaks muh heart."

Gambit kissed her forehead and then lifted her chin so he could kiss her lips.

"I love yo' too, Roguey," he said softly. "I love yo' too."

* * *

"What, are you _nuts_?" Jubilee demanded. "He _proposed_ and you _turned him down_?"

"Ah didn't turn him down," Rogue replied irritably. "Ah told him Ah wanted him ta put some thought inta in. For us _both_ ta put some thought inta it."

"Argh, no! When a guy proposes, you're supposed to say yes," Jubilee insisted.

"Right so, if say... Anole randomly came up to ya one day and -"

"That's not what I mean."

"Well, that's what ya said."

"Why are you so caught up in this, love?" Psylocke asked Jubilee.

"I don't know. I just am," Jubilee replied with a shrug, considered and then added: "They belong together."

"Yeah, well, it's hard work ta make a marriage work," Rogue said, "and unless both parties are prepared ta put in the effort, then it's not going ta work. You'll excuse me if Ah don't want ta rush inta a decision that Ah might regret later."

"Regret?" Jubilee exploded. "How can you possibly regret marrying Remy? Hello? He's only your soulmate. Kitty, tell her."

"Rogue," Kitty said.

"Yes, Kitty?" Rogue asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I think it's a good thing that you're taking this so seriously."

"Thank you."

"Oh what?" Jubilee objected.

"Jubes," Kitty said patiently, "there's a reason why fifty percent of marriages these days end up in divorce, and why so many new marriages don't get past the first year. For something that's supposed to be 'until death do you part', that's pretty bad."

"Exactly," said Rogue.

"But... but... but I... He got the news that he gets to return home," Jubilee said irritably, "and the first thing he does is ask you to marry him. Hello? Doesn't that tell you something?"

"That's the part I don't understand," Psylocke said. "Why couldn't he go home before?"

"It's a long story," said Rogue. "The short version is that Remy was arranged ta be married, but his future brother-in-law challenged him to a duel to the death. Remy won. The father got upset and well, Remy was kinda exiled from New Orleans in an effort ta keep the peace between their families. He died recently, and Bella Donna – the woman he had been arranged ta marry – she doesn't bear him any ill-will, so she's letting him come home."

Psylocke blinked. "Well, that sounds a little archaic."

"Yeah, that would be where the complicated part comes in," Rogue replied with a grin.

"If I were you," said Jubilee, "I'd marry Remy before you go to New Orleans and Bella Donna can force him into marrying him after all these years."

"That's not going ta happen, Jubes," Rogue said patiently.

"Oh yeah? How can you be so sure?"

"Well, for one thing, she's already married."

"That doesn't mean anything, People have affairs all the..." Jubilee trailed off and slapped her forehead. "Dammit!"

"I win," Rogue said.

"Hmph. It's not like Remy would ever cheat though," Jubilee said, determined to salvage the situation. "I mean, hello, the guy nearly got raped by that telekinetic –"

"_That's_ what happened?" Psylocke exclaimed with wide eyes the same time Marrow said: "Someone actually tried to rape Remy?"

"Umm..." Jubilee said awkwardly. "I'm guessing you didn't know."

"This is not your day for talking, Jubes," Kitty teased her. "You should just shove your foot in your mouth now and get it over with."

"Seriously," Marrow pressed. "Someone actually tried to rape Remy? Didn't she know that all you have to do to get him into bed is say 'hey, wanna fuck?' and he replies 'right here or somewhere more comfortable?'"

"Actually we were datin' at the time," Rogue replied coolly. "He'd already turned down her advances and she didn't like it. So she held him telekinetically and fed him Overdrive so she could take advantage of its aphrodisiac properties. Rape, attempted or otherwise, is not a laughing matter, and Ah'll thank ya not ta make light of the situation."

"I wasn't making light, I just meant that..." Jubilee began and then sighed. "I'm going to go talk to the guys."

Marrow shook her head as Jubilee departed.

"Well," said Psylocke. "That certainly puts things into perspective. No wonder he's so anxious around me."

"Yeah, you got a bit of a raw deal there," said Kitty. "But Remy's a decent guy. I'm sure he'll come around, right Rogue?"

"Absolutely," Rogue said firmly.

* * *

Gambit looked up at Jubilee's grinning face. He let out a long breath, knowing exactly what was coming.

"Go on," he said. "Say it. Yo' know yo' want t'."

"Eeeee! You proposed!" Jubilee practically squealed. "Okay now all we have to do is –"

"We?" Gambit repeated with a raise of his eyebrows.

"Oh good, you agree," Jubilee said slyly, not at all beneath using his habit of speaking in two languages against him. "As I was saying all we need to do is come up with a really, really good proposal so that Rogue'll accept you."

"It's not the proposal, it's the thought behind it," Gambit said firmly. "And it's also none o' your business."

"You should propose while sky diving," Bobby advised, overhearing the whole thing.

"Well, dat's a stupid idea," Gambit replied. "Yo' can't have any kind o' conversation while sky diving on account o' the wind. You've been watching too many movies, Icecube."

"Besides, my idea is way better," said Jubilee. "You should take her out for a nice romantic dinner, and hire a band to serenade her and put the ring into a champagne glass and –"

"Well, why do people decide on sky diving proposals?" Bobby interrupted.

"The proposal happens after yo' land," Gambit told him.

"Oh. That makes sense. Hey, what about hiring a skywriter? I've always wanted an excuse to hire one."

"Excuse me, I was talking," Jubilee said.

"You're always talking," Gambit said. "I don't need your 'help', Firecracker, or yours either, Iceboy. You've had your fun, now –"

"You know what I think you should do, Gumbo?" Logan asked.

Gambit lifted his head and made eye contact with Logan, whose expression gave away nothing.

"What?" Gambit asked warily.

"You should get a fortune cookie and change the message to 'will you marry me'."

"I'm going now."

Logan chuckled as Gambit left.

* * *

"Long day?" asked Henri.

"T' put it mildly," Gambit replied. "Everyone keeps giving me proposal ideas."

Henri laughed.

"Oh really?" asked Mercy, a smirk appearing on her face. "Has anyone suggested –"

"Don't yo' start."

"- giving her a heart-shaped box of chocolates, but replacing the middle chocolate with the ring?"

Gigi gigged as Gambit banged his head against the wall.

"Heh," said Henri, clapping him on the back. "We should get going. See yo' in a couple o' days, no?"

"Right," said Gambit. "Have a good trip. Oh, and please don't tell Père about the proposal."

"Oh? Why not, Remy?"

"Because dat's been his favourite question lately, and _I_ want t' give him the answer."

Henri laughed.

Gambit saw his family off at their airport and then headed back to the mansion to pack his things for his first trip back to New Orleans in almost nineteen years.

* * *

Early the next morning, Rogue and Gambit departed for New Orleans.

"One t'ing is certain," Gambit said as they set off, "dis trip should be a lot shorter dan it was coming up."

"Ya don't foresee us getting delayed by people trying to abduct and/or kill us?" Rogue asked.

"Nope," Gambit replied.

Rogue chuckled.

For much of the first part of the trip, there was no conversation between them. The radio played and they were both happy just being in the other's company. They stopped briefly to pick up lunch a little after midday and continued on their way.

"Roguey?"

"Mmm?"

"Umm... nevermind."

"Oookay."

Rogue half expected Gambit to speak up again, but he didn't say another word until he noticed the fuel gauge was getting low.

They stopped some hours later for dinner and then to check into a hotel for the night. They bummed around for a bit in the hotel room before deciding to call it a night and go to bed.

"Rogue?"

"Yeah?"

"I thought mebbe I should have mentioned dis earlier..."

"What's that?"

"Well, see, ever since our first anniversary, mon père's been asking me when I'm going t' propose."

"Oh... Ah see."

"Dat had not'ing t' do wit' why I proposed, chére," Gambit said determinedly, "but I thought as we were going t' be seeing him t'morrow, he'd probably end up asking me dat in front o' yo' sooner or later... probably sooner. So, consider yourself warned."

Rogue sighed.

"He's only doing it t' annoy me," Gambit added. "Dat's how he's been Guild leader fo' so long wit'out going nuts; he looks fo' ways t' annoy the crap out o' his family."

Rogue giggled despite herself.

Before too long, they fell asleep. They were woken the next morning with the arrival of their breakfast via room service. They ate, checked out and continued the rest of the way to New Orleans.

* * *

"Well," said Gambit as they approached the Lake. "Here we go."

Rogue watched with a slight smile on her face as Gambit drove into New Orleans, full of nervous excitement he couldn't hide – at least, not from her. Very quickly, Rogue began to wonder if she should have been the one driving; Gambit was like a little boy, his face practically plastered to the window. It felt like every few seconds he was pointing out something new to Rogue, places he remembered and places they had to visit before they left.

They made a few wrong turns along the way, although whether this was due to Gambit being distracted, his memory being faulty after so long away, or just the city changing in the meantime was debatable. Still, they eventually pulled up at the LeBeau estate. For a time, Gambit just sat in the car and stared out the window.

"Can't believe you're really here?" Rogue asked, trying not to sound amused.

"Somet'ing like," he replied.

Silence stretched out for another minute or so, and just when Rogue was wondering if she should ask him if he needed help getting out of the car, the ornate front door opened and Henri came out.

"Remy! Yo' planning on coming in or what?" his brother demanded when Gambit rolled down the window

"Non, I came all dis way just t' stare," Gambit replied. "I was planning on turning around in a minute and driving all the way back."

"Oh, well, whatever suits your fancy den."

Rogue giggled and the two finally got out of the car. Rogue pulled their bags out of the back while Gambit and Henri hugged.

"Welcome back t' N'Awlins, mon frère," Henri said.

"Merci," Gambit replied.

Henri led them both to the door. Gambit took a deep breath and took his first step inside his old home. He stopped again in the middle of the foyer.

"Not'ing has changed," he said.

They left their bags there, and Henri led them into the living room where Mercy, Gigi and Jean-Luc were waiting. Gambit hadn't seen his father since he'd been banished, so it came a a bit of a shock to see him with grey hair - what was left of it. He also had a lot more wrinkles than he remembered.

"Remy! About time yo' got here, mon fils," Jean-Luc greeted, standing up to give him a hug.

"We took the scenic route," Gambit replied, hugging him firmly. "It's been far too long."

"Indeed," he agreed, and then Jean-Luc's eyes fell on Rogue. "And yo' must be Rogue."

"Nice ta finally meet ya in person," Rogue replied with a smile as Jean-Luc took her hand and kissed it.

"Dieu, yo' look," Jean-Luc began, stopped as if he had changed his mind about what he was going to say and went on; "belle. I can see why Remy fell fo' yo', no?"

"Thank you," Rogue replied with a nervous laugh.

"So, Remy," Jean-Luc said with a nudge. "Have yo' proposed yet?"

"Oui, actually I did," Gambit replied, not bothering to hide his smirk.

"Really? About time," Jean-Luc replied, rubbing his hands together gleefully. "Now here's what I think we should do for the wedding..."

Gambit leaned back on his heels and grinned while Jean-Luc started rattling off outlandish wedding ideas that he obviously knew his son would not go for. Rogue turned her head and starting admiring the decor, feeling very uncomfortable. Mercy covered her mouth with her hands to hide her smile. Gigi shook with silent laughter. Henri alone managed to keep a straight face. Eventually Jean-Luc realised he wasn't getting the reaction he had been expecting.

"So, what do yo' t'ink?" Jean-Luc asked Gambit. "It's _your_ wedding after all."

"Oh, I never said that there was going to be a wedding," Gambit said.

"Ahh, well," Jean-Luc said uncertainly. "Dat's true..."

"In fact, I don't even recall saying dat Rogue even accepted my proposal."

Jean-Luc's head slowly turned to Rogue, who avoided his gaze. Abruptly Jean-Luc started laughing.

"Hoisted by my own petard," he declared. "I suppose it had t' happen sometime, no?"

* * *

**AN: **One more chapter left.


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

To say that there was a huge party on Gambit's first night back in New Orleans was putting it mildly. There were many people there whom Gambit hadn't seen in years and Rogue was feeling rather overwhelmed by all the people she was being introduced to. The looks that many people were initially giving her weren't entirely flattering either; evidentially Gambit's reputation was still in rare form in his home town. Nevertheless, she got a certain amount of gratification when those who found out they'd been together for over a year gave her a second look.

"Emil, dis is Rogue. Roguey, dis is my cousin, Emil," Gambit said, introducing her to a red-headed man.

"Ahh so you're the infamous Rogue," Emil said, taking her hand with a grandiose gesture and kissing it. "The legends of your infinite beauty and charm have not been exaggerated."

Rogue laughed and Gambit swatted him over the shoulder.

"What?" Emil asked. "It's a rare woman that cam tame yo'! Although I do have t' wonder about your wisdom, chérie. After all, you're choosing t' be wit' him..."

"No one's perfect," Rogue replied good-naturedly.

Emil laughed.

Not long thereafter Gambit caught up with Theoren and his new gum-chewing girlfriend, Caitlyn. Caitlyn and Rogue looked at each other while their men caught up.

"I like your hair," Caitlyn said.

"Oh, thanks," Rogue replied, paused and then said: "Ah like your earrings."

"Merci," she said, lifting a hand to fiddle with one of her earrings. "Theo bought them for me."

"They suit ya."

"I know."

An awkward silence fell, and wanting to fill the void, Rogue asked her what she did.

"Cocktail waitress."

"Oh. Ah'm a mechanic and auto shop teacher," Rogue replied, mentally adding "X-man" to the list.

"A mechanic," the blonde said, sounding amused. "Oookay."

Fortunately, Gambit and Theoren didn't talk long and Rogue was sure that Caitlin was just as happy as she was to be out of the other's presence.

"What's dat look fo' chére?" Gambit asked.

"Nothing important," Rogue replied with a shrug. "Ah just can't see Caitlin and Ah gettin' along... ever."

Gambit chuckled.

It wouldn't have been much of a reunion party either if Tante Mattie hadn't been there.

"Well," Gambit said as he pulled away from hugging her, "yo' haven't changed a bit."

"Neither have yo'," Tante Mattie replied with a slight smile. "And dis must be Rogue."

"Nice ta meet you," Rogue said.

"And yo'," Tante Mattie said. "It's about time Remy found someone."

Rogue grinned. "Ah've been hearing that a lot, actually."

"Hmm, dere's a reason fo' dat fille," Tante Mattie said. "Have yo' seen Bella yet?"

"Non... she's here?" Gambit asked.

"Oui. Out the back."

"Ahh," Gambit said and took Rogue's hand. "Désolé, ma chére. I should go pay my respects t' the woman who made dis day possible."

"Of course," Rogue replied with a nod.

"We'll talk again later, Tante," Gambit said, and then hurried off.

"I'm holding yo' t' dat," Tante Mattie informed him and turned back to Rogue. "So, chérie, why don't yo' tell me all about yourself?"

* * *

"Belle?"

Bella Donna looked up as Gambit entered the room and smiled.

"Long time, no see," she said. "Is it just me, or have yo' put on weight?"

"Funny, I was just about t' ask yo' the same question."

"I gave birth t' twins deux years ago. What's your excuse?"

"I've stayed in the same place fo' over a year and had free reign o' the kitchen."

They looked at each other and started laughing.

"Dieu," Gambit said. "It's good t' see yo' again, chére."

"And yourself," she replied. "I'm sorry I couldn't get the exile lifted sooner."

Gambit took her hand and kissed it gently.

"I'm sorry yo' had t' lose your père before yo' could," he said sincerely.

"I appreciate yo' saying dat."

There was a moment's silence.

"So," Gambit said. "Twins, hein? I heard about dat. What does your husband t'ink?"

"Donyell..." Bella Donna paused and smiled slyly. "Donyell is not quite having the marriage he thought he was going to have, and the twins are not having the effect on me he was hoping for."

"Oh? What's dat?"

"Distraction. I think it rather irks him that he doesn't have nearly as much control of the Guild as he thought he was going t' have."

"Oh, like dat is it?" Gambit asked, amused. "Yo' go for the power-hungry types now, chérie?"

"He amuses me. And he's been one o' the few men brave enough t' try and seduce me since... well, since yo', actually," Bella Donna replied. "Speaking of which, I hear you've finally got yourself a steady girlfriend."

"Rogue," Gambit said with a nod. "She's inside if yo' –"

"Did yo' buy yourself a jetski too?" Bella Donna interrupted with a smirk.

"So," Gambit said dryly, "are your twins natural or did yo' have t' use fertility treatment?"

"Do yo' have t' have your girlfriend back by curfew?"

"Oh, look at the time, eight o'clock. Up late t'night, Maman?"

"We should have a play date sometime; my twins and your girlfriend."

"Have yo' gotten rid o' the stretch marks yet?"

"Oh sorry, my bad, your girlfriend's probably had plenty of play dates already with all those illegitimate children yo' have."

"Does Donyell know how yo' got dat scar on your left butt cheek?"

"Wait... your girlfriend isn't actually one _of_ your illegitimate daughters is she?"

"If she is, den _you're_ her mother."

Bella Donna laughed and Gambit grinned at her.

"I'm glad you're doing well, chére," he said softly.

"And I, yo'," she replied. "I should go. Good night, Remy, and welcome home."

"Good night, Belle," Gambit replied as he watched her leave.

* * *

It was quite late by the time the party was over, and Rogue was past beyond caring if people saw her yawning. She lost no time getting ready for bed as soon and she and Remy were in their room.

"Remy?" Rogue said as she climbed into bed.

"Oui, ma chére?"

"Today was a good day."

"I thought so too," he replied with a smile.

"You know what Ah wish?" she asked while she got comfortable under the covers.

"Dat we had more o' dat body chocolate?"

Rogue giggled as Gambit joined her in bed.

"Well, that too," she said. "But Ah also wish that muh family was as accepting of me as yours is of you. Ah mean... everyone tonight, they all couldn't wait to welcome ya home and catch up. Mine couldn't wait ta see the back of me."

Gambit wrapped his arms around her and held her close.

"Their loss," he said firmly. "Yo' are a beautiful, loving, caring, generous person, Roguey, and I'm sorry dat dey couldn't look past your mutation t' see what a wonderful young woman they'd raised."

Rogue lifted her head and kissed his nose.

"Thanks sugah," she said softly. "Still hurts though."

"I don't doubt dat."

Gambit pulled away just long enough to turn off the light. Silence followed and just when Gambit thought Rogue had fallen asleep, she spoke up again:

"Emil said Ah was choosin' ta be with ya."

"Deux t'ings, chérie. One, you're t'inking about somet'ing _Emil_ said?"

Rogue giggled.

"And deux," he went on, "why wouldn't yo' choose t' be wit' moi?"

"Well," Rogue said sleepily. "Just 'cause ya love someone doesn't automatically mean ya choose ta be with them. At the end of the day, Ah still love muh parents, even if we're choosin' not ta be with each other any more."

"Dat's true."

She sighed and nestled her head in the crook of his arm.

"'Night sugah."

"'Night ma chére."

* * *

Gambit spent the next few days taking Rogue around the city. Then it was the day of the big ceremony wherein Jean-Luc would officially retire (his sons were still in shock) and pass over the leadership to Henri.

"It's Guild-only though, chére," Gambit said. "I'm afraid dat -"

"Ah can't come?" she asked with a smile. "That's okay. Ah kinda figured that would be the case. Ah'm sure Ah can manage on muh own just fine for a day."

"Bon."

So while the Thieves were having their thing, Rogue decided to do a bit of shopping. She wandered lazily from store to store, having no real purchases in mind. Sometimes it was fun just to window shop.

After coming out of a book shop, her eyes landed on a bridal store just a stone's throw away. She ambled over, her eyes tracing across the beautiful white gown in the window and she chewed her bottom lip.

"Ah'm really thinking about this," she said to herself.

It had been only a week since Gambit proposed, and she had debated with herself endlessly whether she was ready or not. The more she thought about it - really thought about it - the more the idea seemed to grow on her. She laughed softly to herself as visions of a future with Gambit ran across her mind and she shook her head.

It was equal parts flattering and frustrating that Gambit's friends and family made a big deal about him dating the one woman for so long. Rogue could understand why they were convinced - or acted like they were convinced - that she was the one for him. What Rogue really wanted to know, however, was if Gambit was the one for her.

Her romantic relationship with David ended as soon as it began. She and Bobby dated for a year and that ended in one messy disaster too. She did love Bobby dearly, but she also knew that her feelings for Bobby paled in comparison to how she felt about Gambit. She didn't believe that she could feel any stronger about anyone, but then she had thought the same thing when she was with Bobby.

Rogue smiled wryly to herself as she walked away from the bridal shop, knowing the question was purely hypothetical. She didn't want anyone other than Gambit. Gambit was the one who had been with her all this time. Gambit was the one who made her feel this way. Gambit was the one who had connected with her on a mental, spiritual and emotional level when a true physical connection was impossible, the fact of which was a deterrent to many suitors.

Gambit was the thief who had stolen her heart a long time ago, and she had no intention of asking for it back.

She took a deep breath. They'd only talked briefly the last couple of days about marriage, the topic having come up tentatively as if both parties were afraid of where it might go. Perhaps they were. She would have to pursue it again, preferably soon, and get everything out in the open.

* * *

The following day, Gambit walked into a jewellery store, finding it incredible that he was more nervous buying things in jewellery stores than he was stealing from them. Rogue had been shanghaied into shopping by Gigi.

He and Rogue hadn't really talked all that much about marriage since his ill-fated proposal only a week ago, for all they had said they were going to. For her sake, they were going to have to sit down and really talk about it, preferably soon, but for his sake, he already knew what he wanted.

There was no price he wouldn't pay to have her for his wife.

He didn't know what it was about Rogue, but there was definitely something about her that had him captivated where so many other women had failed. The idea of not having her in his life was abhorrent to him. Even though she had him in her head, she wasn't turned off or repulsed by him or the things he'd done in his life. She still loved him, and he knew he would always love her.

* * *

Gambit had his arm around Rogue's waist as they wandered through the estate gardens a couple of days later.

"Wow," he said.

"What?" Rogue asked.

"See dat tree over dere?" Gambit said, pointing to a rather large tree which provided quite a significant amount of shade.

"Yeah?"

"I remember when we planted dat," he said and put his hand to about knee height. "It was only dis big at the time."

Rogue giggled.

Further into the gardens they came across a stone fountain with a low, wide base and only the slightest spill of water from the tall, narrow three-tiered bowl. There was a bench nearby and it was here that they sat.

"I always liked it here," said Gambit as he looked around. "And I liked that tree too."

Rogue giggled as she looked up.

"Do ya remember when that one was planted too?" she asked.

"Non, but I did like climbing in it," Gambit replied with a grin.

"Well, go ahead," Rogue said with a gesture towards the tree. "Ah'm not stopping ya."

"All right then," Gambit replied.

Rogue laughed as Gambit grabbed the first branch and hauled himself up.

"Ah should have known you'd actually do it," she said.

Gambit grinned at her and held out his hand. "Come up wit' moi."

Rogue laughed again, but let Gambit help her climb up the tree. Not that she couldn't have climbed it on her own, or flown up for that matter. The pair continued up as far into the tree as the branches would support their weight and Gambit sighed as he looked out at the view.

"Missed dis view," he said as he sat down on the branch with his back against the trunk. "Ahh, chérie, I must have spent hours up here as a kid."

"Feel the need ta relive your childhood, sugah?"

"You're the one who told me t' climb up here. Speaking o' which," he went on, pulling her closer to him so he could kiss her neck, "how do yo' feel about sex in a tree?"

"So, Remy, are you plannin' on asking me about sex in every weird, confined, public or otherwise precarious place we come across?" Rogue asked.

"Probably," he replied cheerfully. "Our sex life will never be boring."

"It isn't boring at all."

"See?"

Rogue elbowed him lightly. With her back to his front, she took his hands and pulled them around her and sighed happily.

"Roguey?" Gambit said after a moment's silence.

"Mmm?"

"I've been t'inking about," he began, paused to take a breath and continued: "About us getting married."

Rogue leaned back and rested her head against his shoulder.

"So have Ah," she admitted.

Silence promptly followed.

"Dis is stupid," Gambit said. "Every time one o' us says 'the M-word' t'ings get awkward."

Rogue giggled.

"Yeah, they do, huh?" she agreed ruefully.

"Rogue," Gambit said firmly, turning her head so he could look her in the eye. "I want t' marry yo'. I want t' spend the rest o' my life wit' yo' and I don't want t' hear yo' ask me if I've thought dis through."

"Remy -"

"Non, chére, let me finish. I know you're worried about... I don't know, the 'seven year itch' or whatever, but we've already been through good and bad times together. We've dealt wit' Pulse and Jessica, Overdrive, my history wit' women, controlling your powers, Genosha and now Purifiers, but through all dat I know my feelings fo' yo' have only gotten stronger. I can't imagine anyt'ing dat could possibly be bad enough to outweigh all the good."

"Doesn't need ta be anything big, Remy," Rogue pointed out quietly. "It's all the little things accumulating. Things we find cute about each other now, turning out to be irritants later. Minor acts of selfishness. Fighting over crap that doesn't matter and letting things blow out of proportion."

"So we don't let t'ings blow out of proportion. We don't go t' bed angry, even if it means we stay up all night trying t' sort t'ings out. We make sure dat we always take the time t' get away from life and just be wit' each other. I'll do whatever it takes t' make dis work, chére."

A big smile appeared on Rogue's face and she lifted her head to kiss him sweetly.

"Now that's what Ah want ta hear," she said. "As much as Ah would love the classic fairy tale endin', 'and they lived happily ever after' doesn't happen all that often. No relationship does, marriage or otherwise. And Ah think that's one of the things that's supposed ta make marriage so special: It's sayin' to that one person that ya want ta share all of life's joys and cares with them; ta be together through thick and thin and know that no matter what happens - good or bad - you'll always be there for each other."

* * *

It wasn't until after they'd finally gotten everything off their chests that Rogue and Gambit realised just how tense things had been between them. The LeBeaus seemed to notice that things were more relaxed between them now too.

Unfortunately, they couldn't stay in New Orleans as long as Gambit would have liked - they both had responsibilities back at the school. Nevertheless, plans were made for an extended stay in the summer.

A couple of days later, Rogue and Gambit departed late afternoon. They could have liked to have left earlier but somehow they kept getting delayed. They stayed overnight in a hotel and continued travelling the next day. At about five in the afternoon, they checked into another hotel which Rogue found familiar.

"Say," she said. "Didn't we stay in this hotel before? In fact... Ah'm pretty sure this is the hotel we checked into after that gunfight on the highway."

"Hmm," Gambit considered. "Yo' might be right, chére."

Rogue suspicion that Gambit had picked his hotel deliberately was only confirmed when she realised they were being checked into the exact same room that they had the first time.

"I couldn't resist," he said.

"Mmmhmm," she replied, smirking.

"By the way, chérie," Gambit said with a sly smile. "I believe dat dis was when the subject o' a naked moonlight swim first came up..."

Rogue laughed.

"Not in a hotel pool, Remy," she said. "Ah would definitely prefer somewhere a little more private for such things."

"Pity," he replied, giving her a wink. "How about dinner?"

"Sure."

She was subsequently not surprised when Gambit took them to the restaurant they had eaten in the last time as well.

"Now, wait right here," he said. "I'll be right back."

Rogue laughed softly when Gambit returned with a single red rose.

"Fo' yo'," Gambit said as he presented the rose to her.

"Thanks sugah," Rogue replied. "In the mood to recreate our first 'date', huh?"

Gambit shrugged nonchalantly. "It was on our way."

"Uh huh. Well, in that case, you forgot the part where you checked out every woman who walked by."

"I did not," Gambit replied after a confused pause.

"Yeah you did," Rogue said with a grin. "I distinctly remember being highly amused by it."

"I refuse t' believe I had eyes fo' anyone but yo'."

Rogue laughed.

They went inside the restaurant and ordered. In addition to their meal, Gambit also got champagne just as he had last time.

"First time Ah drank champagne," Rogue mused as she took her glass."Ah remember you were quite insistent Ah only drank one glass."

"Dere, yo' see? Can't say I don't look out fo' yo'."

Partway through the meal, Gambit's fork dropped off the side of the table. Rogue raised her eyebrows as Gambit got off his chair to pick it up. She knew perfectly well it was the first time that Gambit's cutlery had ever fallen off the table while they were out, and when he was on the floor on his knee she swallowed hard. Of course, it all made sense, he was recreating their first date (unofficial date, anyway) and now he was...

Going to sit back on his chair...

Rogue blinked and Gambit grinned at her.

"Yo' thought I was going t' pop the question, didn't yo'?" he asked, grinning.

"The thought did cross muh mind," she admitted.

Gambit chuckled and Rogue pulled a face at him. With all the talk about marriage lately, she felt completely justified in drawing that conclusion.

"Like I'd ever do somet'ing dat cheesy and obvious," Gambit said. "Knocking my fork off the table deliberately, just fo' and excuse t' get on one knee wit'out yo' suspecting. O' course, yo' would suspect, so dat part o' the plan would be an automatic failure."

Rogue giggled. "Exactly."

There was a part of Rogue that was a little disappointed that Gambit didn't propose over dinner. The whole evening was very sweet and romantic; a perfect set up for a proposal. But then, Gambit had done other romantic things for her before and no doubt would continue to do so. Rogue hoped that she wasn't going to spend all of them from now on wondering if there was a proposal coming.

Being in no particular rush after dinner, Gambit suggested they take the scenic route back tot he hotel. Along the way they went by a city park, the kind with fountains, the odd sculpture, concrete everywhere and the occasional tree behind a fence and flowerbed. Rogue stepped up on one of the fountain basins and began walking along the edge.

Gambit pulled out a handful of playing cards, charged them up and tossed them a foot or so above Rogue's head. Rogue gave a cry of alarm as the bang that followed startled her, but her momentary fright turned to amusement as she was showered in playing card fragments in the shape of hearts. She caught one and turned around to speak to him, only to be silenced by his lips on hers.

"Dere are so many t'ings I wanted t' say t' yo'," he said softly, his hands encircling hers. "Yo' are my heart, my love, my everything. Wit'out yo' life is just dis dull, bleak place wit' no meaning, no sense o' purpose. I don't know what the future has in store fo' us, but I do know dat I want yo' wit' me all the way as my lover, my confidant, my best friend and -"

Still holding one of Rogue's hands, Gambit knelt down on one knee and pulled out a small jewellery box. He flipped it open with the one hand and presented the engagement ring to her.

"- my wife," Gambit said. "Rogue, will yo' marry me?"

"Yes," Rogue replied, nodding and grinning with tears shining in her eyes. "Yes, Ah'd love to marry you."

* * *

**End!  
**

Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed. Your feedback is greatly appreciated. I hope you guys enjoyed the story more than I did writing it. I'm sorry but I ended up rewriting all the Purifier stuff three or four times before I was happy with it, hehehe. Although Jean-Luc more than made up for it, to say nothing of finally getting our stars engaged, heh.

Anyway, for those of you who're eager to know my next project, I'm in the mood to continue work on my serieses (I know 'serieses' isn't a real word, but 'series' is both singular and plural and thus fails to convey my meaning to my satisfaction). So, expect more _Don't Ruin the Upholstery_ and _Thieves Guild_.


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